Slavin-Spenny Olga, Lumley Mark A, Thakur Elyse R, Nevedal Dana C, Hijazi Alaa M
Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, 5057 Woodward Ave., 7th Floor, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
Ann Behav Med. 2013 Oct;46(2):181-92. doi: 10.1007/s12160-013-9500-z.
Stress contributes to headaches, and effective interventions for headaches routinely include relaxation training (RT) to directly reduce negative emotions and arousal. Yet, suppressing negative emotions, particularly anger, appears to augment pain, and experimental studies suggest that expressing anger may reduce pain. Therefore, we developed and tested anger awareness and expression training (AAET) on people with headaches.
Young adults with headaches (N = 147) were randomized to AAET, RT, or a wait-list control. We assessed affect during sessions, and process and outcome variables at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment.
On process measures, both interventions increased self-efficacy to manage headaches, but only AAET reduced alexithymia and increased emotional processing and assertiveness. Yet, both interventions were equally effective at improving headache outcomes relative to controls.
Enhancing anger awareness and expression may improve chronic headaches, although not more than RT. Researchers should study which patients are most likely to benefit from an emotional expression or emotional reduction approach to chronic pain.
压力会引发头痛，而针对头痛的有效干预措施通常包括放松训练（RT），以直接减轻负面情绪和唤醒状态。然而，抑制负面情绪，尤其是愤怒，似乎会加剧疼痛，并且实验研究表明，表达愤怒可能会减轻疼痛。因此，我们针对头痛患者开发并测试了愤怒觉察与表达训练（AAET）。
患有头痛的年轻成年人（N = 147）被随机分为接受AAET组、RT组或等待名单对照组。我们在训练过程中评估情感状况，并在基线和治疗后4周评估过程变量和结果变量。
在过程指标方面，两种干预措施均提高了管理头痛的自我效能，但只有AAET降低了述情障碍，并增强了情绪处理能力和自信。然而，相对于对照组，两种干预措施在改善头痛结果方面同样有效。
增强愤怒觉察与表达可能会改善慢性头痛，尽管效果不超过RT。研究人员应研究哪些患者最有可能从慢性疼痛的情绪表达或情绪减轻方法中获益。
