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Dr Bruno A. Cayoun DPsych, MAPS Mindfulness Researcher & Director, Mindfulness Integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT) Institute, Hobart, Australia |
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Dr Bruno Cayoun is a Clinical Psychologist and principal developer of Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT). He is Director of the MiCBT Institute, a leading provider of MiCBT training and professional development to mental health services and professional associations internationally since 2003. Bruno keeps a private practice in Hobart, Australia, undertakes mindfulness research at the MiCBT Institute, and co-supervises studies at various universities. He has practised mindfulness meditation and undergone intensive training in France, Nepal, India, and Australia since 1989. He is the author of three books, including Mindfulness-integrated CBT: Principles and Practice (Wiley, 2011), and Mindfulness-integrated CBT for Well-Being and Personal Growth (Wiley, 2015). Unlearning Chronic Pain with Mindfulness-Based Interoceptive Exposure Recent neurological research shows that about 80% of people who transit from acute to chronic pain produce neuroplasticity linking pain pathways to learning areas of the brain, thus showing physiological evidence that chronic pain is largely learned. Mindfulness meditation programs have been used successfully to teach people a way of unlearning their unhelpful relationship to pain and decreasing pain-related distress. However, not all chronic pain sufferers are able or amenable to undergo a mindfulness meditation program and then maintain daily practice. Accordingly, a pilot study has been carried out as a preliminary analysis of the efficacy of a 2-minute intervention, routinely used in Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT), to help clients decrease distress, regulate emotions, and reappraise the pain experience. Dr Cayoun will present how this very brief guided mindfulness-based exposure to pain sensations, followed by self-implementation for the following 15 days, can produce remarkable results in a range of measures, including pain intensity, type, and duration, and how the benefits are maintained at 2-month follow-up. Early results also show marked decrease in pain-related anxiety, depression and stress following self-implementation. Dr Cayoun will also discuss the possibility of providing micro-skill training to primary carers of chronic pain clients who do not wish to embrace a whole mindfulness meditation program. This presentation will include a video demonstration of the method with a client diagnosed with chronic pain and comorbid conditions. |