Headache symptoms and psychological profile of headache-prone individuals. A comparison of clinic patients and controls
D. K. Ziegler and A. M. Paolo
Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the psychological characteristics of headache
sufferers who seek medical assistance with those who do not. SUBJECTS:
Fifty-one patients seeking medical help for their headache and 53 controls
who had not sought medical assistance for their headache within the past 2
years. All subjects completed a structured interview that gathered headache
data according to the International Headache Society classification
criteria and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Revised
(MMPI-2). DESIGN: A 2 x 2 design was employed. Subject group (patient vs
control) was the first factor and headache type (migraine vs mixed) was the
second. SETTING: University medical center outpatient headache clinic.
RESULTS: Patient and control groups did not differ in age, education,
gender, or number of individuals with migraine. The only headache
characteristic distinguishing the groups was that clinic patients rated
their "most severe headache" as more intense than did controls. On the
MMPI-2, the clinic group scored significantly higher on the
Hypochondriasis, Depression, Hysteria, Psychasthenia, and Social
Introversion scales than did controls. Severity of headache was not
responsible for this difference, since it was used as a covariate in the
analysis. There were no significant differences on the MMPI-2 for headache
type, nor were there any significant interactions. CONCLUSIONS: These
results were discussed in light of previous studies. It was concluded that
psychological characteristics are important factors in the decision to seek
medical help for headache.
