Mind Body Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain syndromes without identified organic etiology remain a challenge for physicians. Many syndromes, including back pain, are believed to have potential underlying psychological etiology; however, the exact link remains elusive. The goal of this study is to determine if mind body therapies can help people suffering from chronic back pain. The study is a randomized, partially blinded trial examining the effectiveness of Mind Body Syndrome Therapy (MBST) in reducing disability from back pain and alleviating back pain. The investigators will secondarily investigate whether MBST can improve participant quality of life and reduce the need for pain-related hospitalization. The design of the this study consists of 3 arms with one being the intervention (MBST), one being usual care, and one being a second mind-body intervention (active control). This education program consists of a series of personal interviews and group and/or individualized lectures/sessions. Participants will also be provided reading material to study during the intervention period, and asked to continue their usual care while going through the MBST program.

Participants will be partially blinded. Participants in the usual care arm will be blinded to the specifics of the interventions. Intervention participants will be blinded to the specifics of the intervention until after they have been randomized into that arm. Data analysis will be conducted by persons who are completely blinded.

Participants will receive a mind body educational-based intervention to learn the techniques comprising intervention 1. Further details are not provided for blinding purposes.

Participants will receive a mind-body educational-based intervention to learn the techniques comprising intervention 2. Further details are not provided for blinding purposes.

Mind body techniques for Intervention 2 will be taught in lectures and group and/or individual sessions.

Back pain bothersomeness as determined from modified Brief Pain Inventory Survey. (Scale 0-10 with 10 being the worst)

Whole-body pain bothersomeness as determined from modified Brief Pain Inventory Survey (Scale of 0-10 with 10 being the worst)

Anxiety from pain as determined from the Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale-20 survey (20 questions with scale of 0-5 with 5 being 'always' and 0 being 'never'

complete resolution of pain disability as measured by Roland Morris Disability (Scale 0-24 with 24 being worst)

Inclusion Criteria: Adult patient 18 > years old Chronic back pain Pain persistent for ≥3 days/week for the past 3 months prior to enrollment Willingness to consider mind-body intervention Exclusion Criteria: Patients < 18 years of age Diagnosed organic disease as cause of pain, such as (but not limited) to malignancy, neurologic disorder (i.e., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), cauda equina syndrome. Pain related to disc disease is not an exclusion unless there are neurological impairments. Patients with a diagnosis of significant psychiatric co-morbidities such as schizophrenia, dementia and bipolar disorder.