ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: About 4% of the population suffer from daily or near daily headache, which in most cases evolved from an episodic type of headache. The impact of psychological factors on this process is unknown. It seems reasonable to assume, that besides somatic and social conditions psychological factors like pain-related coping and cognition play an important role, as has been shown for other pain conditions. METHODS: We performed a cross sectional study on pain coping behaviour in 211 patients with migraine and tension type headache. Pain-related cognition and coping was investigated using the Kiel Pain Inventory. Prevalence of depression, medication intake and headache characteristics were analysed in regard to chronicity of headache. RESULTS: Overall pain intensity was high in the patient sample. The level of depression increased with headache frequency. Dysfunctional coping, characterized by fear and avoidance is frequently used by headache patients. As in low back pain, also endurance is highly prevalent. Other features known to be associated with chronic headache, like depression and medication overuse, could be confirmed. DISCUSSION: Dysfunctional coping was seen with high prevalence in the entire patient sample (66%). Against our hypothesis, it was not confined to chronic forms of headache. In respect to our data, we discuss the role of avoidance and endurance coping in headache and its possible role in chronicity.
