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Volume 13
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10.3390/bs13050432
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Article

Mirror Therapy in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorders—A Pilot Study

by
Steffen Philipp Ruf
1,†,
Larissa Hetterich
1,†,
Nazar Mazurak
1,
Caroline Rometsch
1,2,
Anna-Maria Jurjut
1,
Stephan Ott
1,3,
Anne Herrmann-Werner
1,4,
Stephan Zipfel
1 and
Andreas Stengel
1,5,*
1
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Osianderstr. 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
2
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Firenze, Italy
3
Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine with Outpatient Clinic, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestr. 9-11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
4
TIME (Tübingen Institute for Medical Education), Medical Faculty Tübingen, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Str. 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
5
Charité Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Department for Psychosomatic Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 12203 Berlin, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050432
Submission received: 29 March 2023 / Revised: 12 May 2023 / Accepted: 18 May 2023 / Published: 20 May 2023
(This article belongs to the Section Psychiatric, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders)
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Abstract

Patients with chronic pain report reduced quality of life and high symptom burden while often responding insufficiently to treatment options. Mirror therapy has been proven to be effective in treating phantom limb pain and other conditions such as CRPS. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of mirror therapy in patients with somatoform pain disorders on symptom severity and associated physiological parameters. Fifteen patients with persistent somatoform pain disorder (F45.40) or chronic pain disorder with somatic and psychological factors (F45.41) participated and received four weeks of tablet-based mirror therapy. Symptom severity was measured with established questionnaires, and their thermal detection, pain thresholds, and heart rate variability (HRV) were also assessed. After mirror therapy, pain intensity was reduced (z = −2.878, p = 0.004), and pain thresholds for cold stimuli were also diminished, i.e., the subjects became more sensitive to cold stimuli (z = −2.040, p = 0.041). In addition, a reduction of absolute power in the low-frequency band of HRV (t(13) = 2.536, p = 0.025) was detected. These findings indicate that this intervention may reduce pain intensity and modulate associated physiological parameters. As these results are limited by several factors, e.g., a small sample size and no control group, they should be validated in further studies investigating this novel intervention in these patients.
Keywords: chronic pain; mirror therapy; heart rate variability; pain management; pain threshold; pain treatment; psychosomatic disorders; somatoform pain disorders chronic pain; mirror therapy; heart rate variability; pain management; pain threshold; pain treatment; psychosomatic disorders; somatoform pain disorders

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ruf, S.P.; Hetterich, L.; Mazurak, N.; Rometsch, C.; Jurjut, A.-M.; Ott, S.; Herrmann-Werner, A.; Zipfel, S.; Stengel, A. Mirror Therapy in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorders—A Pilot Study. Behav. Sci. 2023, 13, 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050432

AMA Style

Ruf SP, Hetterich L, Mazurak N, Rometsch C, Jurjut A-M, Ott S, Herrmann-Werner A, Zipfel S, Stengel A. Mirror Therapy in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorders—A Pilot Study. Behavioral Sciences. 2023; 13(5):432. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050432

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ruf, Steffen Philipp, Larissa Hetterich, Nazar Mazurak, Caroline Rometsch, Anna-Maria Jurjut, Stephan Ott, Anne Herrmann-Werner, Stephan Zipfel, and Andreas Stengel. 2023. "Mirror Therapy in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorders—A Pilot Study" Behavioral Sciences 13, no. 5: 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050432

APA Style

Ruf, S. P., Hetterich, L., Mazurak, N., Rometsch, C., Jurjut, A.-M., Ott, S., Herrmann-Werner, A., Zipfel, S., & Stengel, A. (2023). Mirror Therapy in Patients with Somatoform Pain Disorders—A Pilot Study. Behavioral Sciences, 13(5), 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050432

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