Table 1.
Severe mental illness exclusion criteria listed in randomized controlled trials included in the most recent Cochrane review of psychological therapies for chronic pain.
| SMI exclusion criteria | Frequency (%) of trials reporting the exclusion* |
|---|---|
| Psychosis/schizophrenia† | 26 (34.7%) |
| Any serious psychiatric or psychological disorder† | 17 (22.7%) |
| Suicide risk | 10 (13.3%) |
| Bipolar disorder† | 7 (9.3%) |
| Severe/significant depression | 6 (8.0%) |
| Any serious Diagnostic and Statistical Manual axis II disorder | 5 (6.7%) |
| Any mental disorder (nature/severity not specified) | 4 (5.3%) |
| Any serious Diagnostic and Statistical Manual axis I disorder | 3 (4.0%) |
Note: 45 of the 75 (60%) trials in the 2020 Cochrane review of psychological treatments for chronic pain 118 explicitly excluded people for at least one of the reasons listed above. Exclusion criteria of the primary studies were reviewed by the authors of the current topical review.
% was computed from the total number of trials (n = 75). The mental health exclusion criteria are not mutually exclusive, and studies often reported multiple mental health exclusions, including for other mental health problems not classed as SMI.
Some studies described the presence of these disorders without further qualification, whereas others qualified exclusion if the disorder was “poorly controlled or untreated.”
SMI, severe mental illness.