By Pat Anson, Editor

Mindfulness meditation is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that is often recommended to chronic pain patients as a way to temporarily relieve their pain, anxiety and depression.

Does it work? Pain sufferers report mixed results.

“I have tried CBT and mindfulness. They made me feel much worse emotionally, paradoxically enough, made me more acutely aware of the pain,” one reader told us.

“The quackery continues,” wrote another. “This is a modern day lobotomy experiment.”

“Mindful meditation is a wonderful tool in managing chronic pain and the depression that comes with it,” said another. “Those of us suffering daily need every tool in the shed.”

Researchers at Wake Forest University may have discovered why mindfulness works for some, but not for others. Their brains react differently to meditation.

"We now know that some people are more mindful than others, and those people seemingly feel less pain," said Fadel Zeidan, PhD, an assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest School of Medicine.