Psychological therapies show promise when pain syndromes and trauma symptoms overlap
A review found possible improvements with pain-focused and emotion-focused therapies, but comparisons did not establish a clear advantage for either approach.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
This abstract-based review suggests that psychological therapy may help people whose central sensitization syndromes overlap with trauma symptoms. Pain-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and emotional awareness and expression therapy both showed potential benefits. However, the review found no significant overall difference between them, and much of the pooled evidence used inactive comparison groups.
Most pooled comparisons for emotional awareness and expression therapy involved inactive controls. The abstract provides no numerical effect estimates or follow-up durations, limiting judgments about benefit size and persistence.
What the review examined
The researchers examined psychological treatment in a specific clinical population with overlapping pain syndromes and trauma symptoms. Outcomes included pain severity, emotional distress, fatigue, sleep problems, symptoms related to central sensitization, and quality of life.
Why the comparator matters
The pooled analysis described large effects on pain and emotional distress for emotional awareness and expression therapy. Because most comparisons used inactive controls, those results do not establish an advantage over another active psychological treatment.
The original publication
Psychological intervention in patients with central sensitization syndromes and comorbid psychosocial trauma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Maire C, Sánchez AI, Ventura-Lucena JM et al.
Sci Rep · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40847104
- Record checked
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