Premium
Impaired Time Perception in Patients with Chronic Headache
Author(s) -
Isler Hansreudi,
Solomon Seymour,
Spielman Arthur J.,
WittliebVerpoort Elke
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
headache: the journal of head and face pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.14
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1526-4610
pISSN - 0017-8748
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1987.hed2705261.x
Subject(s) - biofeedback , duration (music) , headaches , migraine , medicine , audiology , physical therapy , anesthesia , psychology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , art , literature
SYNOPSIS The retrospective estimation of duration of an event appears to depend upon the amount of information processed within a given interval. Little information processing leads to under‐estimation of duration while an increase in the amount of information processed raises the duration estimate of the interval. During chronic recurring headache, patients usually exhibit automatic responses directed toward avoiding stress in general and sensory stimulation in particular. This reduction of information processing would be expected to lead to under‐estimation of duration of the headache. When headache free, the estimates of duration should increase. These hypotheses were tested in three experiments. In the first experiment, 38 patients with primary headache (migraine, muscle contraction, or mixed headaches) were asked to estimate the duration of a respiratory biofeedback session. Patients with headache at the time of the session gave significantly lower estimates of the duration of the session than patients without headache. The second experiment was similar to the first, but used electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback in 44 patients. Those patients with headache again tended to underestimate the du ration of the biofeedback session to a greater degree than patients without symptoms. A third experiment with 23 primary headache patients showed a tendency to overestimate the duration of a reading task during headache free intervals as compared with 30 normal controls. The perceived shortened duration of an experience during headache may have clinical implications. Normal time perspective, which usually shortens the subjective duration of previous events, may be enhanced by this additional bias. The perception of much shorter intervals between past drug intake and headache relief would tend to create the impression of loss of drug efficiency for the present headache, leading to increased frequency and dosage of medication. The misperceived shortening of the latencies of therapeutic effect in previous headaches may be one of the causes of drug abuse.