1. A reanalysis of a randomized trial on meditation for migraine headaches: Distraction is not enough but meditation takes time
- Author
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Aaron Metzger, Rini Vohra, and Amy B. Wachholtz
- Subjects
Male ,Complementary and Manual Therapy ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Migraine Disorders ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Population ,Pain ,Affect (psychology) ,Article ,law.invention ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Randomized controlled trial ,law ,Distraction ,Humans ,Medicine ,Longitudinal Studies ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Meditation ,education ,media_common ,Advanced and Specialized Nursing ,education.field_of_study ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,Affect ,Treatment Outcome ,Mood ,Complementary and alternative medicine ,Migraine ,Physical therapy ,Female ,Headaches ,medicine.symptom ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Objective : Migraine headaches affect about approximately 15% of the population and some notable efforts have been made to develop meditation interventions to address pain and mood among this population. However, key active ingredients and the necessary duration of meditation interventions to produce an effect are still unknown. The purpose of this study is to assess key meditation ingredients that positively impact mood and headache factors across different meditation techniques and to establish an initial time or” dose” needed to reach proactive treatment efficacy. Method : In this longitudinal study, three active management forms of meditation were compared to a cognitive distraction meditation to assess the effects on migraine headaches and emotions over a 30 day period when practiced 20 min per day. Results : The active group showed significant decreases in anger (p = .005) and migraine pain (p = .002) over time. Further analysis showed that the bulk of the change for the active management group occurred in the final 10 days, after 20 days of practice of the technique (p Conclusion : This suggests that cognitively active forms of meditation are more effective in reducing migraine headache pain and negative mood than distraction techniques. However, individuals engaging in these strategies need to consistently practice these techniques for approximately 20 days to proactively reduce migraine headache pain and negative mood.
- Published
- 2019
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