Contribution of Online Stress and Pain Mindfulness Treatment to ACT Process Change and Outcomes in Chronic Pain

Mindfulness is a popular set of knowledge and practical techniques that can help people cope with stress. It includes meditation practices, everyday small practices to break and change usual habits, as well as understanding and developing competencies to be more aware of thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. Mindfulness can help not to excessively react to them, or becoming distressed by these, as well as pain. In persistent pain (pain that lasts more than three months), mindfulness is thought to improve depression, quality of life, and even how sore people feel. There are numerous versions of mindfulness and mindfulness-based therapies. One approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), is based on science (as opposed to religion or common sense). ACT helps people to learn about and apply skills to cope with thoughts, emotions and sensations without getting upset, distracted or impeded by them. It also assists people to develop the ability to set clear goals that matter in their life. ACT evaluates successful outcomes in this areas (called 'processes') and how these link to changes in pain, mood and stress. However, more puritan mindfulness courses tend to only focus on the latter. Research on mindfulness courses for chronic pain, can show that people improve, but not so well what changes in people's experience and skills, or how such skills are applied. The investigators also know that pain sufferers who attend mindfulness courses for stress, may say it is not so relevant to their pain difficulties. In this study the investigators want to explore how both mindfulness for stress and mindfulness for pain courses, online, contribute to: * How specific areas of ACT and other mindfulness learning change * If/how these link with practical skills and any emotional or improvements in the participants' quality of life, use of medication or GP visits. * If/how the above correlate with physiological stress responses such a heart rate variability To help us eva