Chronic Pain Clinical Trials

Experimental: Stepped-care

Step 1, Music Listening (ML): a music therapist will meet with the Veteran once to identify: musical tastes, preferences and activities. From this meeting a playlist will be compiled for the Veteran to listen to during the 4-week treatment period (step 1). Participants will be asked to listen to music for a minimum of 15 minutes per day at least 4 days per week.~Step 2, Music Imagery (MI): Participants who move to step 2 will receive 8 weekly MI sessions over 8-10 weeks. The 8-session protocol has two stages. Stage 1 (sessions 1-4) is focused on learning to use music and imagery for self-regulation. Stage 2 (sessions 5-8) focuses on identifying and deepening inner resources and learning how to utilize them for self-care. Imagery is used during both stages, but becomes a central focus during Stage 2.

No_intervention: Waitlist control

Wait-list Control: Following the 6-month outcome assessment, participants in the wait-list control arm will be offered abbreviated treatment of 3 sessions with a music therapist (one session to introduce ML with the option to receive 2 additional MI sessions). Participants will also be offered a referral to music therapy services. Participants in the wait-list control arm (and stepped-care group) may receive other pain treatments such as analgesics and non-pharmacological options (e.g., physical therapy) for their chronic MSK pain. The wait-list control arm will provide an untreated comparison to stepped-care and music therapy to assess outcomes during the same trial period, while still offering participants music therapy at study end if desired.