Disentangling self from pain: mindfulness meditation–induced pain relief is driven by thalamic–default mode network decoupling. Issue 2 (7th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Riegner, Gabriel; Posey, Grace; Oliva, Valeria; Jung, Youngkyoo; Mobley, William; Zeidan, Fadel
• Is Part Of: Pain. Volume 164:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 280
• Page End: 291
• Publication Date: 2022-07-07
• Subjects: Mindfulness -- Pain -- fMRI -- Functional connectivity -- Default mode network -- Self -- Thalamus; Pain -- Periodicals; Douleur -- Périodiques; Anesthésie -- Périodiques; Pain; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.0472
• DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002731
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0304-3959

Abstract

Abstract : Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. These findings indicate that mindfulness meditation engages a unique self-referential nociceptive filtering mechanism to reduce the elaboration of pain. Abstract: For millenniums, mindfulness was believed to diminish pain by reducing the influence of self-appraisals of noxious sensations. Today, mindfulness meditation is a highly popular and effective pain therapy that is believed to engage multiple, nonplacebo-related mechanisms to attenuate pain. Recent evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation–induced pain relief is associated with the engagement of unique cortico-thalamo-cortical nociceptive filtering mechanisms. However, the functional neural connections supporting mindfulness meditation–based analgesia remain unknown. This mechanistically focused clinical trial combined functional magnetic resonance imaging with psychophysical pain testing (49°C stimulation and pain visual analogue scales) to identify the neural connectivity supporting the direct modulation of pain-related behavioral and neural responses by mindfulness meditation. We hypothesized that mindfulness meditation-based pain relief would be reflected by greater decoupling between brain mechanisms supporting appraisal (prefrontal) and nociceptive processing (thalamus). After baseline pain testing, 40 participants were randomized to a well-validated, 4-session mindfulness meditation or book-listening regimen. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and noxious heat (49°C; right calf) were combined during meditation to test study hypotheses. Mindfulness meditation significantly reduced behavioral and neural pain responses when compared to the controls. Preregistered (NCT03414138) whole-brain analyses revealed that mindfulness meditation–induced analgesia was moderated by greater thalamus–precuneus decoupling and ventromedial prefrontal deactivation, respectively, signifying a pain modulatory role across functionally distinct neural mechanisms supporting self-referential processing. Two separate preregistered seed-to-seed analyses found that mindfulness meditation–based pain relief was also associated with weaker contralateral thalamic connectivity with the prefrontal and primary somatosensory cortex, respectively. Thus, we propose that mindfulness meditation is associated with a novel self-referential nociceptive gating mechanism to reduce pain.