Matching veterans to the right chronic pain therapy
Optimizing Response to Chronic Pain Treatments in Veterans: Identifying Key Moderators
This project compares three non-drug treatments—cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and hypnotic cognitive therapy—plus usual care, to help match veterans with chronic pain to the therapy most likely to help them.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Washington NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11370770 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would be invited to join a randomized trial for veterans with ongoing pain and could be assigned to one of four options: CBT, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), hypnotic cognitive therapy (HYP-CT), or usual care. Before treatment, researchers will collect information about your symptoms, mood, sleep, and other personal characteristics. They will track pain, function, and other outcomes over time to see who benefits from which therapy. The team will use those results to develop algorithms that could help match future patients to the treatment most likely to help them.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Veterans with chronic (long-lasting) pain who are willing to try behavioral therapies and attend study visits are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People with only short-term acute pain, those unwilling to participate in psychotherapy, or those seeking only medication-based treatments may not benefit from this trial.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help veterans get the specific non-drug therapy most likely to reduce their pain and improve daily functioning.
How similar studies have performed: CBT has strong evidence for chronic pain and earlier studies suggest MBCT and HYP-CT can help, but systematically matching patients to the best therapy is a newer approach.
Where this research is happening
Seattle, United States
- University of Washington — Seattle, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jensen, Mark P — University of Washington
- Study coordinator: Jensen, Mark P
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.