Patients with chronic headache tend to have more psychological symptoms than those with sporadic episodes of pain

Abstract

There are controversial associations between headaches and psychological symptoms. Objective: To design a profile of neuroticism, a term that groups variables related to negative personality traits, in patients with chronic daily headache (CDH) when compared to episodic migraine (EM) patients, applying the Factorial Scale of Emotional Adjustment/Neuroticism (NFS). Method: One hundred adult patients with CDH and forty with EM answered the NFS. Results: Comorbidities of subtypes of neuroticism (p=0.006) were more common in chronic daily headache patients, with three or more disorders (p=0.0002): Dependent personality disorder (p=0.0001), anxiety, reduced concentration and production (p=0.0008), depression (p<0.0001), suicidal ideation (p=0.0008) and hopelessness even without depression (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Patients with CDH tend to have dependent personality disorder, low production and concentration, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and hopelessness, superimposing two or more psychological disorders. These factors should be pondered for a better resolution in the treatment of CDH.