Choric Musculoskeletal pain patients suffer from emotional distress such as depression and anxiety and also experience much more discomfort in their lives. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a Mindfulness meditation group therapy and Mindfulness meditation group therapy added Compassion meditation on pain, quality of life, and psychological features in Chronic Musculoskeletal pain patients.

20 participants received 7 weekly sessions in mindfulness meditation training program, which take about 90 minutes each. Only Compassion Meditation group received 20 minutes added program. Measures included Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Quality of life (WHOQOL-BRIF), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y (STAI-Y), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-16 (AAQ-16), Experiences Questionnaire (EQ), Life Satisfaction Expectancy scales (LSES). All the variables were measured at three time points: pre, post, and follow up implementation.

The t-test results of the participants before and after the Mindfulness Meditation group showed statistically significant improvement in their Pain (t=2.64, p<.05), Depression (t=5.579, p<.05), and State Anxiety (t=2.223, p<.05), but not in another positive psychological features. Added Compassion Meditation group showed statistically significant improvement all of measures (Pain: t=3.180, p<.01, Quality of life: t=4.781, p<.01, Depression: t=2.208, p<.01, State Anxiety: t=3.838, p<.01, Trait Anxiety: t=3.208, p<.01, Acceptance: t=−2.635, p<.05, Experience: t=−3.041, p<.01, Life satisfaction: t=−2.23, p<.05). The follow-up implementation showed the persistence of beneficial changes.

Added compassion meditation is more effective than mindfulness meditation for chronic musculoskeletal pain. There are greater benefits for alleviating pain, improving quality of life and other psychological features that can be gained from performing added compassion meditation rather than doing mindfulness meditation solely.

The population of the aged has been rapidly increasing worldwide, and about 50% of them are under chronic pain by irreversible degenerative diseases. This study aimed to verify the effectiveness of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) on pain, pain interference, and life satisfaction in people with chronic pain. In addition, this study proposed that anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, psychological inflexibility in pain, pain catastrophizing and kinesiophobia are mediating the effectiveness of ACT.

Participants of ACT program for this study comprised the elderly aged 65 and over who had been suffering from chronic pain for at least 6 months and reported their pain intensity of at least five on the VAS (Visual Analogue Scale, 0-10). During the sessions, experimental group participated in the ACT program designed by Stoddard and Wetherell(2011) and the control group received health education. After finishing eight sessions of each program, data from 25 participants in the experimental group and 27 in the control group were used for the final analysis.

The results showed that the ACT program is significantly more effective on relieving pain, pain interference, anxiety, and psychological inflexibility in pain than health education program. However, anxiety and psychological inflexibility did not have significant mediating effects on pain and pain interference.

Finally, this study has verified the curative effect of ACT for elderly people suffering from chronic pain. Therefore, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can be used for supplementary treatment for patients with degenerative disease.