The Harvard Back Pain Study

Even education (not psychotherapy) about Psychophysiologic Disorders has outstanding benefit for patients. In this study, 35 adults with non-specific back pain were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 received a 12-week, 36-hour course on Psychophysiologic Disorders (PPD). Group 2 received instruction in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Group 3 received their usual care (UC).

The graph shows the proportion of each group that was free of pain on the vertical axis and the six-month duration of the study on the horizontal axis. The brown line is the PPD group, showing a rapid, steady increase in the number of PPD patients who were completely free of pain.

After 26 weeks, 64% of the PPD group reported being pain free compared with 25% of the MBSR group and 17% of the UC group.

 The evidence in this study strongly supports a Psychophysiologic Disorder as the cause of back pain in these patients and shows the dramatic benefits of education about PPD.

Donnino MW, Thompson GS et al.  (2021). Psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy for chronic back pain: a pilot randomized controlled trial. PAIN Reports: September/October 2021 - Volume 6 - Issue 3 - p e959.  doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000959