Maladaptive cognitive content and attitudes accompanying tension type headache and migraine
Objective: In this study, we examined the presence of some dysfunctional cognitive contents, processes and attitudes which are supposed to accompany the primary headache and described to take part in psychopathologies like anxiety and depression.
Method: Thirty three patients diagnosed with migraine, 34 patients diagnosed with chronic tension type headache according to IHS (International Headache Society) criteria who referred to a Turkish training and research hospital neurology outpatient clinic were included. Thirty three healthy volunteers without headache were included as the control group. Automatic Thought Questionnaire (ATQ), White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and Demographic Information Questionnaire (DIQ) were administered to the participants for the determination of cognitive contents and attitudes.
Results: The results showed that in the tension type headache group, ATQ total scores and ‘’Negative Self-Concepts’’, ‘’Personal Maladjustment and Desire for Change’’ and ‘’Giving up/Helplessness’’ subscale scores were significantly higher than the control group. There was no significant difference between the three groups in WBSI. It was shown that in PCS total scores and all scores of ‘’rumination’’, ‘’magnification’’ and ‘’helplessness’’ subscales, tension type headache group and migraine group had significantly higher scores according to the controls.
Conclusion: Higher levels of negative cognitive contents in both of the migraine and tension type headache groups according to the healthy controls can explain high depression frequencies in these clinical manifestations. Another result obtained in our study was that as a way of coping with pain, rumination is used more than thought suppression in these individuals.
Key words: Tension type headache, migraine, coping, cognition
|
