Prescription drug abuse is a hot button issue and frequent headliner in Florida’s news media.  Likewise, addiction and chronic pain remain at the forefront of the latest public health concerns as the U.S. struggles to address the needs of a rising veteran population.  Through a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Dr. Eric Garland is investigating an innovative way to combat chronic pain and problems related to prescription painkiller use through a mental training program he developed called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement. His research is particularly promising because mindfulness training is a potential treatment for a wide variety of habit behaviors and health problems.

Many studies have shown that mindfulness promotes psychological and physical health in a number of ways, including:

1. Reducing pain;
2. Reducing stress and negative emotions (that exacerbate pain); and
3. Increasing self-control.

Dr. Garland’s current study compares his mindfulness training program to a support group for people taking prescription opioid medication for chronic pain. Research participants are people taking prescription opioid painkillers (e.g. Percoset, Vicodin, Oxycontin) for more than three months.  Participants are randomly assigned to either the Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement treatment or the support group treatment. While the mindfulness program is new and innovative, support groups are a well-established standard of care for a variety of health and mental health problems.

Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement and the support group are both active interventions. The purpose of the study is to see how these two types of therapies help people in different ways. Dr. Garland hopes that these therapies will increase coping with pain and stress, reduce medication-related problems, and lead to an improved sense of overall well-being. And although the research is ongoing, preliminary results indicate that participants receiving both types of therapy are experiencing a greater sense of well-being and a sense of satisfaction knowing that they are contributing to the well-being of others. 

Contact Dr. Garland directly at egarland@fsu.edu or at (850) 645-9571.