Yale Researchers Explore Mindfulness-Based Treatments to Address Chronic Pain and Improve Health Outcomes in Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease

For individuals with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), pain can be a pervasive aspect of everyday life, affecting both physical and mental health. An ongoing study in collaboration with the Yale Sickle Cell Program is set to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based treatments (MBT) to address pain and improve quality of life for SCD patients. Led by Zachary Harvanek, MD, PhD; John Roberts, MD; Ariadna Forray, MD; and Michael Crowley, PhD, “Neural Correlates of Pain, Resiliency, and Mindfulness in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease” will explore neural markers of chronic pain in patients with SCD and assess whether MBT can improve both chronic pain and SCD in this population.

Challenges with pharmacologic management of chronic pain, including concerns about the development opioid tolerance and use disorder, have bolstered interest in the development of behavioral and psychotherapeutic approaches. MBT are among interventions that have demonstrated success in application to chronic pain such as that often experienced by individuals with SCD.

“Understanding how the brain reacts to pain, and how activities like mindfulness might offer some relief, can help us create better therapies and tailor them to each individual’s needs. Mindful practices aren’t going to replace medications, but we hope they can complement other strategies to help patients cope with pain and not allow pain to stand in the way of the goals they want to accomplish,” shares mPI Dr. Harvanek.

The study will consider feasibility and efficacy of administering MBT for patients with SCD in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Harvanek and team hope the latter will expand access to these evidence-based interventions to better meet the needs of individuals with SCD who are hospitalized for pain, and/or whose everyday pain experience makes participation in outpatient MBT difficult. Harvanek and team also plan to examine what if any influence MBT may have on SCD outcomes. Blood samples collected from participants will be assessed for improvement in laboratory markers of disease such as inflammation.

On a broader scale, research findings may shed new light on brain signals that shape patients’ experience of chronic pain, and elucidate some of the psychological, behavioral, and neurological processes that facilitate or hinder success in MBT for chronic pain in the context of SCD and beyond.

Study Collaborators: Bud Wassell, MS, CEAP, LPC; Joanna Cole, RN, APRN, FNP-BC; Patricia Nogelo, LP, LCSW; Cathleen Liang, and Princess Edemobi