Talk therapy for opioid crisis

Recent study found people who received psychotherapy, such as simplified pain education and cognitive behavioral therapy, had a greater reduction in pain intensity than those who received usual care such as opioids and other pain medications. Opioids are commonly prescribed for chronic pain.

The new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama, suggests talk therapy could provide a new approach to pain management. 'We need more than just medication and surgery for chronic pain because they do not eradicate the problem or increase physical function,' Dr Beverly Thorn, professor of clinical health psychology.

For the study, Dr Thorn and her colleagues collected data from 290 patients. They either received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), simplified pain education (EDU) or usual care. CBT and EDU therapies were delivered in 10 weekly 90-minute group sessions, with all information and materials modified to be accessible to patients reading at or even below the fifth grade level.

Researchers found that CBT and EDU interventions significantly improved pain and physical function between pre- and post-treatment. Patients enrolled in the talk therapies decreased their pain ratings by 1.5 points, which met the threshold of being a 'clinically meaningful effect.'
These talk therapies were so effective in reducing pain because physical issues are also psychological. Pain involves emotions and thoughts, and all of these are processed by the brain.
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Effects of behavioral therapy on obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts obsessions and behaviors. It is a psychiatric condition that is associated with control disorder, reoccurring thoughts and repetition of behaviors.

Common symptoms include fear of germs or contamination, unwanted or aggressive thoughts, and compulsions to clean, check or put things in order. It can be treated with medication, psychotherapy or both.

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD demonstrate changes in their brain and symptoms improvement when treated with a special form of talk therapy. People with OCD underwent daily cognitive behavioral therapy to learn how to prevent compulsive behaviors and to decrease distress, this leads to increases in the strength of the connections between regions of their brains.

Researchers evaluated people with OCD who received intensive CBT therapy and people without OCD who were used as a comparison group. Participants underwent scans with a neuroimaging tool- functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI.

Those with OCD were scanned before and after four weeks of treatment, and those who do not have OCD and therefore did not receive treatment were also scanned before and after the four weeks. Before and after brain scans of the participants who received CBT showed an increase in connectivity which can signify greater communication between the cerebellum and the striatum, and between the cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex.

The scans of people without OCD did not show any changes; and among the people with OCD who waited four weeks for their treatment, there were also no changes during the waiting period, demonstrating that the changes in the brain do not occur spontaneously with the passage of time.
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