Actively Recruiting
Phase 1 Pilot of a Pragmatic Trial of EAET for Veterans With Chronic Pain
Led by University of California, Los Angeles · Updated on 2026-02-24
84
Participants Needed
1
Research Sites
77 weeks
Total Duration
On this page
Sponsors
U
University of California, Los Angeles
Lead Sponsor
N
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Collaborating Sponsor
AI-Summary
What this Trial Is About
About one in three Veterans lives with long-term (chronic) pain, and many of them also struggle with past trauma and mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or PTSD. Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) is a type of talk therapy that helps people understand and express their emotions, especially those linked to past trauma. This therapy has been shown to help reduce pain and improve mental health. So far, multiple studies have tested EAET in both Veterans and civilians, and the results have been promising. EAET has helped people feel less pain, move better, and experience fewer mental health symptoms. Because of these strong results, the U.S. Department of Health \& Human Services named EAET a Best Practice for managing pain in 2019. Two earlier studies at a VA hospital in Los Angeles found that EAET worked even better than another well-known therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP) for older Veterans. However, those studies were done in tightly controlled settings. Now, researchers want to see if EAET works just as well when it's used in everyday healthcare settings, by different types of doctors and therapists. This new project will happen in two parts, but we will only focus on the first part in this entry: In the first part (a 1-year phase), doctors and therapists at up to 7 VA hospitals across the country will be trained to use EAET. They will then try it out with Veterans to see how well it works and how easy it is to use in real clinics. Veterans, doctors, and other staff will be asked for feedback to learn what helps or gets in the way of using EAET.
CONDITIONS
Official Title
Phase 1 Pilot of a Pragmatic Trial of EAET for Veterans With Chronic Pain
Who Can Participate
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if you...
- Veteran at one of 7 VA healthcare systems
- Age 18 years or older
- Musculoskeletal pain for at least 3 months, including back pain, fibromyalgia, limb pain, neck pain, pelvic and perineal pain, jaw pain, or tension headaches
- Pain severity of 4 or higher on the 0-10 Numeric Pain Rating Scale on average
You will not qualify if you...
- Poorly controlled major psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder with active symptoms
- Active risk of suicide or violence
- Severe active drug or alcohol use disorder
- Current or recent (within 6 months) participation in CBT-CP or EAET therapy
AI-Screening
AI-Powered Screening
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Trial Site Locations
Total: 1 location
1
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
Actively Recruiting
Research Team
B
Brandon C Yarns, MD, MS
CONTACT
How is the study designed?
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
NONE
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Model
PARALLEL
Primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Number of Arms
2
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