Co-occuring pain and emotional difficulties are strikingly common and a true challenge in the clinic. Nearly all pain patients suffer from some kind of emotional distress. Difficulties with emotion regulation has been pointed out as one core process, which may explain the high co-occurrence of pain and emotional distress. Current treatments have not succeeded in helping pain patients with high levels of emotional distress, and therefore a new treatment approach has been developed, based on emotion regulation theory, DBT and exposure techniques. This presentation will describe the theory behind this new intervention and present preliminary data from a randomized controlled trial in patients with chronic pain and emotional distress. This trial compares the effectiveness of a DBT inspired exposure treatment with internet-based CBT for chronic pain.
Katja Boersma attended and made the presentation.