Mindfulness Meditation: A New Treatment For Fibromyalgia?

Participants were assigned to groups by date of entry, and 6 subjects dropped out for the time of the study. Self-report measures were validated German inventories and included the following scales: optical analog pain, pain perception, coping with pain, a symptom checklist and QoL.

Pre- and postintervention measurements were made. Additionally, a 3-year come-up was carried out on a subgroup of 26 participants. Pre- to postintervention analyses indicated MBSR to yield significantly greater benefits than the check intervention on most dimensions, including optical analog pain, QoL subscales, coping with pain, anxiety, depression and somatic complaints (Cohen d import size, 0.40-1.10).

Three-year follow-up analyses of MBSR participants indicated sustained benefits beneficial to these same measures (effect size, 0.50-0.65). Based on a quasi-randomized trial and diffuse-term observational follow-up, results designate mindfulness intervention to be of potential long-term benefit for female fibromyalgia patients.

Reference: Paul Grossman, Ulrike Tiefenthaler-Gilmer, Annette Raysz, Ulrike Kesper. Mindfulness Training during the time that an Intervention for Fibromyalgia: Evidence of Postintervention and 3-Year Follow-Up Benefits in Well-Being. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2007;76:226-233