Doctor Juan Vicente Luciano leads several studies on the psychological approach to pain presented at the 21st Congress of the Spanish Pain Society (SED)
The professor and researcher from the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), also affiliated with Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, presented two oral communications and three posters at the national congress held in Málaga from May 28 to 30, 2025.
The 21st Congress of the Spanish Pain Society (SED) gathered hundreds of professionals in medicine, psychology, nursing, and other disciplines with the goal of sharing knowledge, experiences, and the latest advances in the field of pain, a phenomenon that currently affects many people in our society. The program included pre-congress courses, workshops, symposia, and the exhibition of scientific posters.
Within this multidisciplinary framework, Dr. Luciano presented two oral communications focused on the study of chronic pain from a psychological perspective:
- Single-case analyses to individualize psychological therapy. In this talk, Dr. Luciano emphasized the need to combine nomothetic approaches (randomized controlled trials) with idiographic single-case designs to tailor interventions to the specific characteristics of each patient. This allows for the detection of change processes that group studies might overlook.
- Pain language in the DSM-5-TR. The researcher analyzed how the latest revision of the diagnostic manual for mental disorders (DSM-5-TR) incorporates somatic symptom disorder, reviewed its diagnostic limitations, and discussed its consequences, such as stigmatization and overdiagnosis, for patients living with pain.
Dr. Luciano leads the research group Psychological Research in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain (ÁGORA Group). Several members of the group also participated by presenting three scientific posters:
- Predicting adherence and clinical response to cognitive-behavioral therapy in people with chronic low back pain and depressive symptoms.Authors: Juan P. Sanabria-Mazo, Estíbaliz Royuela-Colomer, Jaime Navarrete, Carla Rodríguez-Freire, Lance M. McCracken, Albert Feliu-Soler, and Juan V. Luciano.
- Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in people with pain awaiting lumbar surgery: preliminary results of a randomized controlled trial.
Authors: Juan P. Sanabria-Mazo, Juan R. Castaño-Asins, Antonio Montes, Víctor Pérez, Laura Vargas-Nicolás, and Juan V. Luciano.
- Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in chronic pain: a longitudinal study.
Authors: Juan R. Castaño-Asins, Juan P. Sanabria-Mazo, Antonio Montes, Víctor Pérez, Mireia Juncosa-Naveros, and Juan V. Luciano.
The research team’s significant contribution to the congress reflects the ÁGORA group’s commitment to the transfer of scientific knowledge within the field.