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Effects of anger awareness and expression training versus relaxation training on headaches: a randomized trial.

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Slavin-Spenny O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3778035 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of anger awareness and expression training versus relaxation training on headaches: a randomized trial.

Slavin-Spenny Olga O Lumley Mark A MA Thakur Elyse R ER Nevedal Dana C DC Hijazi Alaa M AM

Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine 20131001 2

<h4>Background and purpose</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>Young adults with headach ...[more]

PMID: 23620190

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Project description:Individuals who are not engaged in treatment are commonly overlooked in the design of intervention trials targeting suicidal populations as a result of recruitment methodology that requires individuals to be referred from their current provider. In fact, research suggests that the majority of individuals who die by suicide have not been in contact with mental health services in the year before their death.A randomized controlled trial of two brief, one-session interventions for adults who are not engaged in mental health treatment. Inclusion criteria include 1) 18 years or older, 2) experiencing suicidal ideation in the past week, 3) have not received mental health treatment in the month prior to screening, 4) living within commuting distance to the research office, and 5) willing to consent to recording and assessment. Exclusion criteria are 1) non-English speaking and 2) significant cognitive impairment. Recruitment takes place in the community via flyers, radio, and online advertisements. Interested individuals are screened via telephone and those who are eligible attend a one-time in-person assessment and intervention appointment. During this appointment, they are randomized to a single-session intervention in which they are presented with either dialectical behavior therapy skills or supportive discussion and instruction in relaxation. Following the in-person appointment, participants complete three follow-up interviews via telephone at one-week, four-weeks, and twelve-weeks post-intervention. The primary outcomes are suicidal ideation, emotion dysregulation, and skills use. Secondary outcomes include depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, and treatment utilization. Exploratory outcomes are suicidal and intentionally self-injurious behaviors. Intent-to-treat analyses will be conducted on primary and secondary outcomes.Suicidal individuals who are not engaged in mental health treatment are an understudied and significantly at-risk group for death by suicide. A better understanding of this population, targeted efforts to recruit and engage these individuals, and developing effective interventions for this group are critical areas for investigation in the field that this trial seeks to address.Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02236325 ; Date of registration: 05-Sept-2014.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly disabling psychological disorder with a chronic course if left untreated. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment, but access to face-to-face CBT is not always possible. Internet-based CBT (iCBT) has become an increasingly viable option. However, no study has compared iCBT to an analogous control condition using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). OBJECTIVE:A 2-armed RCT was used to compare a therapist-assisted 12-module iCBT to an analogous active attention control condition (therapist-assisted internet-based standard progressive relaxation training, iPRT) in adult OCD. This paper reports pre-post findings for OCD symptom severity. METHOD:In total, 179 participants (117 females, 65.7%) were randomized (stratified by gender) into iCBT or iPRT. The iCBT intervention included psychoeducation, mood and behavioral management, exposure and response prevention (ERP), cognitive therapy, and relapse prevention; the iPRT intervention included psychoeducation and relaxation techniques as a way of managing OCD-related anxiety but did not incorporate ERP or other CBT elements. Both treatments included audiovisual content, case stories, demonstrations of techniques, downloadable audio content and worksheets, and expert commentary. All participants received 1 weekly email, with a maximum 15-minute preparation time per client from a remote therapist trained in e-therapy. Emails aimed to monitor progress, provide support and encouragement, and assist in individualizing the treatment. Participants were assessed for baseline and posttreatment OCD severity with the telephone-administered clinician-rated Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and other measures by assessors who were blinded to treatment allocation. RESULTS:No pretreatment differences were found between the 2 conditions. Intention-to-treat analysis revealed significant pre-post improvements in OCD symptom severity for both conditions (P<.001). However, relative to iPRT, iCBT showed significantly greater symptom severity improvement (P=.001); Cohen d for iCBT was 1.05 (95% CI 0.72-1.37), whereas for iPRT it was 0.48 (95% CI 0.22-0.73). The iCBT condition was superior in regard to reliable improvement (25/51, 49% vs 16/55, 29%; P=.04) and clinically significant pre-post-treatment changes (17/51, 33% vs 6/55, 11%; P=.005). Those undertaking iCBT post completion of iPRT showed further significant symptom amelioration (P<.001), although the sequential treatment was no more efficacious than iCBT alone (P=.63). CONCLUSION:This study is the first to compare a therapist-assisted iCBT program for OCD to an analogous active attention control condition using iPRT. Our findings demonstrate the large magnitude effect of iCBT for OCD; interestingly, iPRT was also moderately efficacious, albeit significantly less so than the iCBT intervention. The findings are compared to previous internet-based and face-to-face CBT treatment programs for OCD. Future directions for technology-enhanced programs for the treatment of OCD are outlined. TRIAL REGISTRATION:Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12611000321943; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=336704 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/70ovUiOmd).

Dataset Information

Effects of anger awareness and expression training versus relaxation training on headaches: a randomized trial.

Publications

Effects of anger awareness and expression training versus relaxation training on headaches: a randomized trial.

Similar Datasets

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