The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training on Experimentally Induced Pain

Zeidan and colleagues at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte published a study investigating the effects of a mindfulness meditation intervention on the experience of pain.

Before and after the intervention, participants were tested on pain threshold using painful electrical stimulation. The experimenters obtained ratings of a “low” threshold (rated a 2 and 3 on a 0-6 scale) and a “high” threshold (rated 4 and 5).

In Experiment 1, participants received a mindfulness meditation intervention after pain threshold was assessed. The mindfulness meditation intervention was specifically designed to be very brief. After the first testing session, participants engaged in 20 minute mindfulness meditation trainings for 3 consecutive days, with different skills taught each day with increasing detail. They were then retested on pain threshold.

In Experiment 2, participants completed three conditions: 1.) baseline; 2.) “math distraction task” (participants were asked to subtract from 1000 by 7); 3.) or a relaxation task. The order of administration was counter-balanced to account for order effects. Similar to the Experiment 1, a second pain testing session was conducted three days after the first.

In Experiment 3, participants completed relaxation, math distraction, and mindfulness meditation conditions. The order of administration was counter-balanced to account for order effects.

Across three experiments, participants in the mindfulness meditation intervention exhibited decreases in subjective pain ratings and state anxiety, and increases in mindfulness. Additionally, participants in the mindfulness meditation intervention reported less pain at both the high and low intensities compared to their baseline scores before the intervention. There was also pain reduction for participants using the math distraction task but not the relaxation task.

The authors conclude that mindfulness meditation can dampen pain response—an analgesic effect—even after only a brief intervention.

There are some weaknesses to this study. Samples sizes across each experiment ranged from 20-22, which are a little small, especially as conditions were counterbalanced within each experiment. Additionally, these were healthy college students: people with chronic pain conditions were screened out.

Nonetheless, the study offers some indication that mindfulness meditation has a greater analgesic effect than relaxation and distraction, and that this effect can be accessed with a very brief intervention.

For the full study, click here.

Full citation:

Zeidan, F., Gordon, N. S., Merchant, J., & Goolkasian, P. (2010). The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training on Experimentally Induced Pain. The Journal of Pain, 11(3),199-209.