Treatment Mediators of Improvement in Functional Disability

Junghans-Rutelonis, A. N., Craner, J. R., Ale, C. M., Harbeck-Weber, C., Fischer, P. R., &

Weiss, K. E. (2018). Youth with chronic pain and postural orthostatic tachycardia

syndrome (POTS): Treatment mediators of improvement in functional disability. Journal

of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 25(4), 471-484.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-018-9558-7

The main focus of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of chronic pain treatments

in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) patients, primarily ones with

overlapping chronic pain symptoms. The study also researched how chronic pain

treatments affected depression and functional disability in patients. In terms of

credibility, Ashley N. Junghans-Rutelonis is a doctor in philosophy with ten previous

published research projects. Dr. Julia R. Craner is a clinical psychologist, Chelsea M. Ale

has a Ph. D in psychiatry and psychology, Cynthia Harbeck-Weber research chronic pain

illnesses under Mayo Clinic, Philip R. Fischer researches pediatric autoimmune diseases

with Mayo Clinic, and Karen E. Weiss specializes in POTS with the Mayo Clinic. This

research paper is relevant to my current research because it shows the effectiveness of

alternative POTS treatments. This research explain correlating factors between POTS and

other conditions that can be used to develop my prototype better. A special feature that

way unique was the inclusion of depression research in the data; this added another factor

to be considered into the study, especially because the sample group is adolescent

teenagers. The research concluded that treating the conditions together can be more

effective than looking at them as two separate conditions. From my readings I concluded

that mood factors such as depression play a bigger factor in chronic pain and POTS
 treatment. Since POTS primarily targets adolescents, depressive factors are major

contributors to treatment and how effective pain treatment can be.