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Interdisciplinary Outpatient Group Treatment of Intractable Headache
Author(s) -
Scharff Lisa,
Marcus Dawn A.
Publication year - 1994
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.1526-4610.1994.hed3402073.x
Subject(s) - headaches , medicine , physical therapy , medical treatment , treatment and control groups , intensive care medicine , surgery
SYNOPSIS Approximately 10% of adults suffer from severe or disabling headaches. For many patients, headaches are reduced with traditional medical, physical, or psychological therapies. However, a significant minority continue to report debilitating headaches despite the use of these conventional therapies. An integrated, interdisciplinary approach combining these three individual components in a group treatment setting was offered to patients who had failed previous therapy. The interdisciplinary treatment resulted in over 70% of patients experiencing a 50% or better reduction in headaches at follow‐up of an average of 5.8 months. Overall, there was an average reduction in medication use at follow‐up of 71%. The treated group reported significantly greater reduction in headache activity and medication consumption compared to a group that was referred to but did not receive group treatment. The results suggest that an interdisciplinary outpatient group treatment may provide a cost‐effective end time‐efficient treatment option for patients with a variety of recurring headaches, even if they have failed conventional therapies that use medical, physical, and psychological treatments individually.