Title Details

Melissa A. Day, PhD, is a NHMRC Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Day completed her MA (Clin) and PhD in clinical health psychology, with a research focus on pain. Currently her research focuses on optimizing mindfulness-based and cognitive-behavioural interventions for chronic pain.

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

About the Companion Website xiii

Introduction 1

Part I Chronic Pain 5

1 Defining Chronic Pain and its Territory 7

2 Psychosocial Chronic Pain Management: Current State of the Theory and Evidence 39

3 The Development of MBCT for Chronic Pain 63

Part II MBCT for Chronic Pain 87

4 Overview of the Eight?–Session Treatment 89

5 Session 1: Stepping Out of Automatic Pain Habits 115

6 Session 2: Facing the Challenge 137

7 Session 3: The Breath as an Anchor 155

8 Session 4: Learning to Stay Present 167

9 Session 5: Active Acceptance 183

10 Session 6: Seeing Thoughts as Just Thoughts 197

11 Session 7: Taking Care of Myself 211

12 Session 8: Harnessing the Power of the Mind for Chronic Pain Management 223

13 Integrating MBCT for Chronic Pain with Existing Treatments 235

Conclusion 249

Index 259