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Migraine, Personality, and Psychiatric Comorbidity
Author(s) -
Breslau Naomi,
Andreski Patricia
Publication year - 1995
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.1526-4610.1995.hed3507382.x
Subject(s) - migraine , neuroticism , psychiatry , psychoticism , comorbidity , depression (economics) , anxiety , psychopathology , clinical psychology , psychology , personality , personality disorders , extraversion and introversion , medicine , big five personality traits , social psychology , macroeconomics , economics
The purpose of this report is to examine the association between migraine and personality, taking into account history of co‐occurring psychiatric disorders. Data came from an epidemiologic study of young adults in the Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area. Migraine, defined according to 1988 IHS criteria, and major depression and anxiety disorders were ascertained by a structured diagnostic interview. Migraine was associated with neuroticism, but not with extraversion or psychoticism, measured by the Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire. The association remained significant, when sex and history of major depression and anxiety disorders were controlled. An excess of 25% of persons with migraine alone, uncomplicated by psychiatric comorbidity, scored in the highest quartile of neuroticism. The results suggest that migraine sufferers might be more vulnerable to psychopathology and poor adjustment to their medical condition.