Art and migraine: Researching the relationship between artmaking and pain experience

Abstract

This research project extends a previous study (Vick and Sexton-Radek, 1999) in examining the relationship betweenartmaking and pain among 127 migraine sufferers.A basic overview of migraine symptoms and treatment ispresented along with a discussion of concepts relating to"migraine art" in order to provide a context for this project.Surveys dealing with headache history, pain experience, and artmaking practices were mailed to 371 participants ina national migraine art competition; both quantitative andqualitative data were analyzed. Participants reported thatartmaking was more likely to trigger headaches than toalleviate them and that both the quantity and quality ofstudio work declined during headache episodes. In addition, participants identified numerous art materials andpractices that they felt precipitated migraines and notedavoidance strategies they used to manage their headaches.The implications of these counterintuitive findings for arttherapy practice are discussed. © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.