Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse
Background: Many factors are involved in the prognosis and outcome of Chronic Migraine and Medication Overuse Headache (CM+MOH), and their understanding is a topic of interest. It is well known that CM+MOH patients experience increased psychiatric comorbidity, such as anxiety, depression, or persona...
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doaj-4f820433ac93434f921cf583af47b9082020-11-24T20:53:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-05-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.00704370372Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication OveruseSara Bottiroli0Federica Galli1Michele Viana2Grazia Sances3Cristina Tassorelli4Cristina Tassorelli5Headache Science Centre, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, ItalyDepartment of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, ItalyHeadache Science Centre, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, ItalyHeadache Science Centre, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, ItalyHeadache Science Centre, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, ItalyDepartment of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, ItalyBackground: Many factors are involved in the prognosis and outcome of Chronic Migraine and Medication Overuse Headache (CM+MOH), and their understanding is a topic of interest. It is well known that CM+MOH patients experience increased psychiatric comorbidity, such as anxiety, depression, or personality disorders. Other psychological factors still need to be explored. The present study is aimed to evaluate whether early life traumatic experiences, stressful life events, and alexithymia can be associated with CM+MOH.Methods: Three hundred and thirty-one individuals were recruited for this study. They belonged to one of the two following groups: CM+MOH (N = 179; 79% females, Age: 45.2 ± 9.8) and episodic migraine (EM) (N = 152; 81% females; Age: 40.7 ± 11.0). Diagnosis was operationally defined according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders 3rd edition (ICHD-IIIβ). Data on early life (physical and emotional) traumatic experiences, recent stressful events and alexithymia were collected by means of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Stressful life-events Questionnaire, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), respectively.Results: Data showed a higher prevalence of emotional (χ2 = 6.99; d.f. = 1; p = 0.006) and physical (χ2 = 6.18; d.f. = 1; p = 0.009) childhood trauma and of current stressful events of important impact (χ2 = 4.42; d.f. = 1; p = 0.025) in CM+MOH patients than in EM ones. CM+MOH patients were characterized by higher difficulties in a specific alexithymic trait (Factor 1 subscale of TAS-20) [F(1, 326) = 6.76, p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.02] when compared to the EM group. The role of these factors was confirmed in a multivariate analysis, which showed an association of CM+MOH with emotional (OR 2.655; 95% CI 1.153–6.115, p = 0.022) or physical trauma (OR 2.763; 95% CI 1.322–5.771, p = 0.007), and a high score at the Factor 1 (OR 1.039; 95% CI 1.002–1.078, p = 0.040).Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated a clear relationship between CM+MOH and life traumas, stressful events, and alexithymia. These observations have a relevant role in multiple fields of related to chronic headache: from the management to the nosographic framing.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00704/fulltraumastressalexithymiamedication overuse headachemigraine |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sara Bottiroli Federica Galli Michele Viana Grazia Sances Cristina Tassorelli Cristina Tassorelli |
spellingShingle |
Sara Bottiroli Federica Galli Michele Viana Grazia Sances Cristina Tassorelli Cristina Tassorelli Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse Frontiers in Psychology trauma stress alexithymia medication overuse headache migraine |
author_facet |
Sara Bottiroli Federica Galli Michele Viana Grazia Sances Cristina Tassorelli Cristina Tassorelli |
author_sort |
Sara Bottiroli |
title |
Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse |
title_short |
Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse |
title_full |
Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse |
title_fullStr |
Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse |
title_full_unstemmed |
Traumatic Experiences, Stressful Events, and Alexithymia in Chronic Migraine With Medication Overuse |
title_sort |
traumatic experiences, stressful events, and alexithymia in chronic migraine with medication overuse |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2018-05-01 |
description |
Background: Many factors are involved in the prognosis and outcome of Chronic Migraine and Medication Overuse Headache (CM+MOH), and their understanding is a topic of interest. It is well known that CM+MOH patients experience increased psychiatric comorbidity, such as anxiety, depression, or personality disorders. Other psychological factors still need to be explored. The present study is aimed to evaluate whether early life traumatic experiences, stressful life events, and alexithymia can be associated with CM+MOH.Methods: Three hundred and thirty-one individuals were recruited for this study. They belonged to one of the two following groups: CM+MOH (N = 179; 79% females, Age: 45.2 ± 9.8) and episodic migraine (EM) (N = 152; 81% females; Age: 40.7 ± 11.0). Diagnosis was operationally defined according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders 3rd edition (ICHD-IIIβ). Data on early life (physical and emotional) traumatic experiences, recent stressful events and alexithymia were collected by means of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Stressful life-events Questionnaire, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), respectively.Results: Data showed a higher prevalence of emotional (χ2 = 6.99; d.f. = 1; p = 0.006) and physical (χ2 = 6.18; d.f. = 1; p = 0.009) childhood trauma and of current stressful events of important impact (χ2 = 4.42; d.f. = 1; p = 0.025) in CM+MOH patients than in EM ones. CM+MOH patients were characterized by higher difficulties in a specific alexithymic trait (Factor 1 subscale of TAS-20) [F(1, 326) = 6.76, p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.02] when compared to the EM group. The role of these factors was confirmed in a multivariate analysis, which showed an association of CM+MOH with emotional (OR 2.655; 95% CI 1.153–6.115, p = 0.022) or physical trauma (OR 2.763; 95% CI 1.322–5.771, p = 0.007), and a high score at the Factor 1 (OR 1.039; 95% CI 1.002–1.078, p = 0.040).Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated a clear relationship between CM+MOH and life traumas, stressful events, and alexithymia. These observations have a relevant role in multiple fields of related to chronic headache: from the management to the nosographic framing. |
topic |
trauma stress alexithymia medication overuse headache migraine |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00704/full |
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