The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Pain Acceptance and Pain Perception in Patients with Painful Diabetic Neuropathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

INTRODUCTION: Neuropathic pain is a complex phenomenon in patients with diabetes. These patients have many problems, such as psychological problems, high-level pain perception, and pain acceptance. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on pain acceptance and pain perception in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy. METHODS: This study was performed according to the clinical trial method. The sample size was 50 participants. In this study, participants were divided into interventional and control groups. According to the diagnosis of neurologists, all participants received conventional medications to manage neuropathic pain. The intervention group received acceptance and commitment therapy for eight sessions. The results in the three phases of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up were evaluated. After completing the study, to comply with ethical standards, the control group received psycho-education. The tools used were the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ). Statistical analysis includes mean, standard deviation, and repeated-measures (ANOVA) conducted by SPSS software version 22. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that in the post-test and follow-up phases, acceptance and commitment therapy could improve pain acceptance and reduce pain perception in the intervention group compared to the control group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The results indicated that acceptance and commitment therapy could be used as a psychological intervention besides pharmacotherapy to improve pain acceptance and reduce pain perception in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy. CLINICAL TRAIL REGISTRATION: This study was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT20180205038630N4).