Relationship between personality disorders and headaches

Abstract

Introduction. Studies on the specificity of migraine headache in patients with personality disorders are multiple. Results are often contradictory, which may be explained by psychological, socio-cultural, economic and purely individual differences of subjects. Aim of the study. The study of the importance of the personality disorders degree and his influence on the clinic profile of the pacients with migraine and tension-type headache. Materials and methods. 28 patients from the Department of Headache and Autonomic Disorders of the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova) were evaluated in this study, in 2 stages: psychometric testing using Personality Inventory Disorders for DSM-5 (PID-5) in 1st stage and data collection, headache intensity assessment and Headache Questionnaire in 2nd stage. Results. The results of psychometric test allowed to separate the examined subjects in 3 groups according to numeric values of facets of PID-5: group I - Normal (0-1), group II - Accentuated Personality (1 – 1.66), group III - Personality Disorder (>1.66), and these results were correlated with intensity and frequency of headache. The analysis of 25 facets of PID-5, which are included in 5 domains of higher order: Negative Affection, Antagonism, Disinhibition, Detachment and Psychoticism, divided the domains into 3 groups: Internalization, Externalization and Psychoticism. These values were correlated again with intensity and frequency of headache. Conclusion. Female gender has a higher introversion tendency than males, introversion and neurosis is more common among women with migraine; the onset of personality disorders occurs during early youth.