Brief Pain Exposure Therapy (BPET) For Nociplastic Pain
Who can join
As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.
- Age
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Compensation
- Not stated
Other requirements are listed under Eligibility below. Only the study team can confirm whether you can join.
What to expect
No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.
What participation involves
Not stated in the study description — ask the study team about visits and procedures.
- Compensation
- Not stated
- Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
- Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
- Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
- Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.
About this study
In plain language
This study tests a short talk-based treatment called Brief Pain Exposure Therapy (BPET), offered through Zoom. It is for adults with fibromyalgia, lupus, long-term pelvic pain, or long-term low back pain. Researchers want to learn if it helps reduce pain, trouble with daily activities, and problems such as depression or anxiety.
This study is intended to test whether a brief Zoom-based behavioral treatment can help adults with fibromyalgia (FM), Lupus, chronic pelvic pain, and chronic low back pain learn effective strategies for reducing pain, disability and other problems that can come with fibromyalgia, Lupus, chronic pelvic pain, and chronic low back pain (such as depression or anxiety).
Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.
Eligibility
Who can join
- You can read, write, and speak English.
- You have internet at home and a phone or computer for video calls.
- For fibromyalgia, you must meet one of three options: a doctor's diagnosis; qualifying pain and symptom scores; or pain in 4 of 7 body areas on the study's body map plus a doctor's diagnosis of opioid use disorder (problem use of opioid drugs).
- The fibromyalgia score option requires a widespread pain score of 7 or higher and a symptom score of 5 or higher, OR a pain score of 4–6 and a symptom score of 9 or higher.
- For lupus, you need a doctor's diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus, a disease where the immune system attacks the body, and pain in 4 of 7 body areas on the study's body map.
- For lupus, your medicines and steroid dose must not have changed during the month before you join.
- For low back pain, you must have had pain on at least half the days during the past 6 months. Your average pain over the past 7 days must be at least 4 out of 10.
Who can't join
- You have another cause of long-term pain besides fibromyalgia or lupus, such as arthritis with swelling, another immune system disease, a spinal cord injury, or cancer.
- You are getting cognitive behavioral therapy or another talk-based treatment for pain.
- You have had an open legal case about long-term pain in the past year.
- You cannot give informed consent (understand and agree to join) or complete the study steps.
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding, or study doctors decide another health condition makes the study unsuitable for you.
- For lupus: you take more than 10 mg of prednisone each day, or an equal dose of another steroid.
- For pelvic pain: you had surgery for a condition related to long-term pelvic pain in the past 6 months.
- For low back pain: you have back surgery scheduled, or your leg pain is worse than your back pain.
Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.
Official eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Able to read, write and speak English * Internet access and audio-visual conferencing capability (e.g., Zoom meetings by phone or computer) in the home Fibromyalgia participants must have: * Physician diagnosis of fibromyalgia * OR: meet 2016 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Criteria for FM: Widespread pain index score is ≥ 7 and symptom severity scale score is ≥ 5, or widespread pain index score is 4 to 6 and symptom severity score is ≥ 9 * OR: have pain self-reported in 4 out of 7 body regions in the General Sensory Sensitivity (GSS)-brief body map AND Opioid Use Disorder diagnosis by a physician. Lupus participants must have: * Physician diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus * AND: Have pain self-reported in 4 out of 7 body regions in the GSS-brief body map * AND: No change in medications or steroid dose for one month prior to entry (to avoid oscillation of steroid dosing during the study due to active disease). Chronic Low Back Pain participants must have: * Low Back Pain for at least half the days over the past 6 months * Over the past 7 days, an average pain intensity of at least 4 out of 10 Exclusion Criteria: * Indication of a co-occurring (non-fibromyalgia OR non-lupus) cause of chronic pain (e.g., inflammatory arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, spinal cord injury, cancer) * Currently receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy or other psychological therapies for pain * Open litigation regarding chronic pain in the past 1 year, as assessed in preliminary study screening. * Inability to provide informed consent and complete study procedures (e.g., indications of suspected major cognitive impairment via observations of study staff during consenting) that would preclude comprehension or participation in study protocols. * Pregnant or breastfeeding * Any other diseases or conditions that would make a patient unsuitable for study participation as determined by the site principal investigators. * Lupus group only: taking \>10 mg prednisone (or equivalent steroid) dose per day as an indicator of ongoing disease activity (with no other strict exclusions based on medications) * Chronic Pelvic Pain group only: surgery for any chronic pelvic pain related condition in the past 6 months * Chronic low back pain only: scheduled back surgery; leg pain that is greater than your back pain
Study sites (1)
MI
- University of Michigan · Ann Arbor, MI 48109Beth Banner · Study contact · 734-998-5837 · eledward@med.umich.eduJohn Sturgeon, PhD · Principal investigatorMore trials in Ann Arbor