How Effective Is the Use of Metaphor Therapy on Reducing Psychological Symptoms and Pain Discomfort in Patients with Non-Cardiac Chest Pain: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

Introduction: Psychological symptoms of non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) including perceptual, emotional, and behavioral problems can effect patient perception of chest pain. This study was conducted to determine the effect of metaphor therapy on mitigating depression, anxiety, stress, and pain discomfort in patients with NCCP. Materials and Methods: This randomized, controlled, trial was conducted on 28 participants, who had visited the emergency department of Kermanshah Imam Ali Heart Hospital because of experiencing NCCP during the June to September 2014. The patients were randomly assigned to metaphor therapy and control groups (n=14 for each group) during a four-week period. Our data collection questionnaires included Pain Discomfort Scale (PDS) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). Chi-square and MANCOVA tests were run, using SPSS version 20. Results: Twenty patients (71.4%) completed the trial period until the final assessment. Our findings showed that metaphor therapy couldn’t lower depression, anxiety, stress, and pain discomfort; In fact, there was not a significant difference between the metaphor therapy and control groups regarding the aforementioned variables (P> 0.05). Conclusions: Although the study results did not support the effectiveness of metaphor therapy for NCCP, further studies on the potential role of metaphor therapy in attenuating NCCP symptoms seem to be necessary.