Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
HEI-Lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab, School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal.
Scand J Pain. 2021 Dec 22;22(3):631-638. doi: 10.1515/sjpain-2021-0214. Print 2022 Jul 26.
Evidence shows that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported psychological approach for chronic pain (CP) management. Although self-compassion is not explicitly a target of ACT, it seems to be one mechanism of change in ACT for CP. However, research is lacking on the benefits of including explicit self-compassionate exercises in ACT for CP. The current study pilot tested a Compassionate ACT 8-session group program (COMP.ACT; n=9), as well as an ACT-only 8-session group program (ACT; n=7), in a sample of women with CP.
The current study follows a quasi-experimental design, and conducts Reliable and Significant Change analyses comparing pre- to post-intervention scores of self-report measures.
No differences were found between conditions at baseline, nor between completers and drop-outs. Although preliminary, results showed COMP.ACT led to greater clinical improvements in depression and anxiety, while ACT led to greater improvements in stress and uncompassionate self-responding. Reliable and Significant Change analysis showed that some participants improved significantly (in psychopathological symptoms, valued living and uncompassionate self-responding) in both conditions, while the majority did not change significantly.
More research is needed to conclude whether explicit self-compassion exercises are useful in ACT for CP. Limitations and implications are further discussed.
有证据表明，接纳与承诺疗法（ACT）是一种经过实证支持的慢性疼痛（CP）管理心理方法。虽然自我同情并不是 ACT 的明确目标，但它似乎是 ACT 治疗 CP 的一种改变机制。然而，关于在 ACT 中纳入明确的自我同情练习对 CP 的益处的研究还很缺乏。本研究初步测试了一个包含 8 节课程的有同情心的 ACT 团体方案（COMP.ACT；n=9），以及一个仅包含 8 节课程的 ACT 团体方案（ACT；n=7），在一组 CP 女性中进行。
本研究采用准实验设计，通过比较自我报告测量的干预前后得分，进行可靠和显著变化分析。
在基线时，两组之间没有差异，也没有完成者和脱落者之间的差异。尽管初步结果显示，COMP.ACT 导致抑郁和焦虑的临床改善更大，而 ACT 则导致压力和不宽容的自我反应更大的改善。可靠和显著变化分析表明，一些参与者在两种情况下都有显著的改善（在心理病理症状、有价值的生活和不宽容的自我反应方面），而大多数参与者没有显著变化。
需要进一步研究，才能得出明确的自我同情练习在 ACT 治疗 CP 中的是否有用。还进一步讨论了限制和影响。
