Mindfulness meditation-related pain relief: evidence for unique brain mechanisms in the regulation of pain

Neurosci Lett. 2012 Jun 29;520(2):165-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.03.082. Epub 2012 Apr 6.

Abstract

The cognitive modulation of pain is influenced by a number of factors ranging from attention, beliefs, conditioning, expectations, mood, and the regulation of emotional responses to noxious sensory events. Recently, mindfulness meditation has been found attenuate pain through some of these mechanisms including enhanced cognitive and emotional control, as well as altering the contextual evaluation of sensory events. This review discusses the brain mechanisms involved in mindfulness meditation-related pain relief across different meditative techniques, expertise and training levels, experimental procedures, and neuroimaging methodologies. Converging lines of neuroimaging evidence reveal that mindfulness meditation-related pain relief is associated with unique appraisal cognitive processes depending on expertise level and meditation tradition. Moreover, it is postulated that mindfulness meditation-related pain relief may share a common final pathway with other cognitive techniques in the modulation of pain.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Attention
  • Brain / physiopathology*
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Humans
  • Meditation / methods*
  • Neuroimaging
  • Pain / physiopathology
  • Pain / psychology*
  • Pain Management / methods*