Wicksell, Dahl, Magnusson, & Olsson, 2005
Wicksell, R. K., Dahl, J., Magnusson, B., & Olsson, G. L. (2005). Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in the rehabilitation of an adolescent female with chronic pain: A case example. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 12, 415-423.
This case example illustrates how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) within a behavior medicine approach was used in the rehabilitation of an adolescent with debilitating chronic pain. For chronic pain with unclear etiology (idiopathic pain), pharmacological therapy alone is often insufficient. Psychological treatment strategies have been developed and evaluated for adults with chronic pain. However, few such studies have been conducted with youths. To date, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychological treatment for generalized musculoskeletal pain syndromes in children and adolescents. This patient was a 14 years old girl severely disabled by idiopathic generalized pain. It was hypothesized that avoidance of pain and pain-related stimuli was central to the subject's disability. ACT, a development of cognitive behavior therapy, was used as the treatment model in this study, focusing on building the behavior repertoire in valued life directions rather than emphasizing reductions in pain and distress. As the subject moved in valued directions, exposure to avoided pain stimuli took place naturally. Following treatment, improvements in valued life activities and functional ability was seen, as evidenced by increased school attendance, lower pain ratings and individual goal achievement. The outcome of this treatment indicates that ACT and a behavioral medicine approach can be useful in the rehabilitation of young people with chronic disabling pain. Empirical studies are needed to investigate the clinical effectiveness of this approach.
Primary Category:
ACT: Empirical
APA Citation:
Wicksell RK, Dahl J, Magnusson B, Olsson GL. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in the rehabilitation of an adolescent female with chronic pain: A case example. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 2005;12:415-423.
Key Words:
Pain, children, cognitive behavior therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Abstract:
This case example illustrates how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) within a behavior medicine approach was used in the rehabilitation of an adolescent with debilitating chronic pain. For chronic pain with unclear etiology (idiopathic pain), pharmacological therapy alone is often insufficient. Psychological treatment strategies have been developed and evaluated for adults with chronic pain. However, few such studies have been conducted with youths. To date, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychological treatment for generalized musculoskeletal pain syndromes in children and adolescents. This patient was a 14 years old girl severely disabled by idiopathic generalized pain. It was hypothesized that avoidance of pain and pain-related stimuli was central to the subject’s disability. ACT, a development of cognitive behavior therapy, was used as the treatment model in this study, focusing on building the behavior repertoire in valued life directions rather than emphasizing reductions in pain and distress. As the subject moved in valued directions, exposure to avoided pain stimuli took place naturally. Following treatment, improvements in valued life activities and functional ability was seen, as evidenced by increased school attendance, lower pain ratings and individual goal achievement. The outcome of this treatment indicates that ACT and a behavioral medicine approach can be useful in the rehabilitation of young people with chronic disabling pain. Empirical studies are needed to investigate the clinical effectiveness of this approach.
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Comments
Cant Download this paper
I have been trying to downlaod this paper for days. Keep getting the message that the page can't be found, or I am not a member.
Jim
Case illustration article fixed
Hi Jim,
sorry about that.... Have to admit it wasn't very hard to find info regarding how to submit properly.... I've now changed the file name and it should work to download it. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments regarding the article or ACT and pain in general.
And thanks for the prompt!
/Rikard
Case Illustration
Thanks for making this available Rikard. This is one of the things that makes this community so great, people taking the time to share, and having access to such interesting work. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Jim
author used bad filename
Hi Jim,
I can't download the file, either, because the filename contains both an ampersand and spaces in the filename, which the website cannot handle for uploaded files. We'll have to hope Rikard will upload a renamed file that follows the site guidelines (you may wish to email him a little nudge about it!).
As a little warning to everyone else who uploads files or publications, there is a prompt in the space for uploading files that warns you not to use spaces or ampersands in the filename. If you do, nobody will be able to download it and it really won't be very useful!
Cheers,
Eric