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 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Alexithymia is a new term which usually means "no words for mood" and used to describe a disorder where patients have difficulty in expressing feelings in words. Such patients therefore express emotions in somatic terms. We have selected headache as a symptom to test the term Alexithymia. A group of thirty patients with the complaint of persistent headache of more than 6 months duration, without any organic pathology or neurological disease entity was taken. This study concludes that Alexithymic traits are not necessarily more prominent in those having psychophysiological symptoms specially tension headache. It also shows that we should not accept any new concept evolved in West without testing it in our own conditions.
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PMID:Alexithymia in Karachi. 190 32

The aim of this study was to display the result obtained by the contingent negative variation (CNV) recording in patients suffering from headache. Eighty-five patients were taken into account: 59 with migraines (M) and 26 with tension headache (TH). A typical CNV pattern (high CNV amplitude with no habituation) differentiated M from TH. Moreover, psychological data were collected through Rorschach ink blot test among 42 headache sufferers (31 M and 11 TH). The typical Rorschach repressive pattern of alexithymia was found as well in M as in TH while CNV amplitude was significantly higher in the 31 M (-25 microV) than in the 11 TH (-19 microV FP less than 0.04). Biochemical data collected among 28 patients (17 M and 11 TH) revealed a positive correlation between CNV amplitude and plasma level of noradrenaline, regardless of the type of headache (r = 0.58; P less than 0.01). Thus, besides psychological factors, catecholaminergic mechanisms seem implicated in the determination of the CNV pattern in migraine. CNV may help the clinician both to specify diagnosis and to decide between the many therapeutic strategies available.
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PMID:[Value of the study of contingent negative variation in migraine and tension headache]. 331 75

Research regarding psychological factors in head pain have generally focused upon personality traits and psychopathology. The role of illness beliefs offers another method of elucidating perceptions, attitudes and convictions towards a somatic complaint. One hundred patients, evaluated for head pain at a neurology clinic, were administered the illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) to delineate illness beliefs; the illness Effects Questionnaire (IEQ) to quantify the disruptive aspects of head pain; and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) to assess the subjects propensity to somatize as well as the ability to identify and report emotions. The data found no difference between subjects diagnosed with migraine syndrome and those with tension head pain in the IBQ dimensions, the TAS or in reported levels of anxiety or depression. However, chronicity of symptoms was associated with increased irritability. The clinical implications of the findings suggest that patients with head pain are psychologically distressed but often possess alexithymic characteristics that make insightful associations difficult.
Headache 1994 Jun
PMID:Illness beliefs and alexithymia in headache patients. 792 16

Nonorganic chronic headache is a common, challenging presentation in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of associated psychiatric psychopathology, personality disorders, or traits. In addition, the study attempted to investigate possible relationships of nonorganic chronic headache with alexithymia, locus of control, and pain perception. Psychiatric pathology, personality traits, and pain profiles were examined in 100 randomized patients with chronic headache lacking an obvious organic basis, and they were compared with 100 subjects, 50 with headache of a known organic cause and 50 seemingly healthy persons, by using structured clinical interviews. Somatoform pain disorder was diagnosed in 43% of the nonorganic and 20% of the organic headache group. Nine percent of the former group had major depression, 16% had dysthymia, and 8% had both. In the organic group, 56% had no psychiatric disorder and 20% had somatoform pain disorder. Seventy-seven percent of the patients in the nonorganic pain group had personality disorders, mostly of the mixed and multiple types, compared with 24% of the organic headache patients. The study sample was more alexithymic than the other groups (in 65% of subjects) and had a culturally influenced locus of control and a pain profile characterized by dramatization, vagueness, lower pain threshold, and lower pain tolerance. The nonorganic chronic headache patients showed a high prevalence of somatoform, depressive, and other forms of psychiatric disorders. The high frequency of personality disorders, mostly the mixed and multiple types, the high alexithymic pattern, and low pain threshold and tolerance in the study group should be taken into consideration in the evaluation and management of nonorganic headache patients.
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PMID:A psychiatric study of nonorganic chronic headache patients. 1034 36

It has been estimated that between 50% and 80% of all visits to nurse practitioners are for symptoms that are vague, without a specific diagnosis or cause. Such symptoms as headaches and pain, as well as other illnesses, may stem from difficulties in emotional regulation. Understanding that these individuals suffer from emotional dysregulation and alexithymia provides guidelines for assessment and treatment protocols. Integrating the holistic therapeutic strategies delineated in this article is essential for expert advanced practice.
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PMID:Emotional regulation and alexithymia: treatment implications for nurse practitioners. 1127 Nov 16

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether previously emerged pain symptoms and painless temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms are associated with alexithymia and self-rated depression among media personnel in or not in irregular shift work. A standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company in irregular shift work (n = 750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls in regular 8-h daytime work. The questionnaire covered demographic items, employment details, general health experience, physical status, psychosomatic symptoms, psychosocial status, stress, work satisfaction and performance, and health-care use. Studied age groups, marital status, gender or perceived health were not significantly associated with alexithymia in the bivariate analyses. Most studied painless TMD symptoms associated significantly with alexithymia. Alexithymia was also significantly more prevalent among those who reported having more often than average neck pain (P < 0.05), head pain (P < 0.05), and tender teeth (P < 0.01). According to logistic regression, the probability of alexithymia was significantly positively associated with pain symptoms (P < 0.05) and painless TMD-related symptoms (P < 0.01), and significantly negatively associated with female gender (P < 0.01). Additionally, depressive mood was significantly positively associated with dissatisfaction of one's work-shift schedule (P < 0.05), and poorer health experience (P < 0.01). Neither alexithymia nor depression was associated with irregular shift work in itself. In conclusion, depressive mood may be a sign of dissatisfaction and impaired well-being. In the case of perhaps less disabling but common physical symptoms alexithymia as a possible underlying factor may be relevant in the diagnosis and management of such disorders.
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PMID:Associations of perceived pain and painless TMD-related symptoms with alexithymia and depressive mood in media personnel with or without irregular shift work. 1537 Jun 28

To explore the relationship between the side of pain during attacks and psychopathological features in strictly unilateral migraine, we recruited 35 patients affected by migraine with and/or without aura diagnosed according to the revised ICHD-II criteria. Seventeen patients had right side-locked pain (R-SUM), 11 had left side-locked (L-SUM) and 7 had side-shifting pain (SSM). Patients were administered the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory-State Anxiety, the Beck Depression Inventory and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Statistical analyses showed that the L-SUM group was significantly more anxious and depressed than the other two groups of patients. Our preliminary data suggest that strictly left unilateral migraine is associated with more severe anxiety and depression. This finding appears to be consistent with studies that reported a higher degree of these disorders in patients with left cerebral hemispheric damage.
J Headache Pain 2005 Sep
PMID:Psychiatric disorders and pain location in unilateral migraineurs. 1636 71

The aim of the study was to estimate the occurrence of mood, anxiety and disability disorders in 300 patients affected by chronic daily headache and MOH, who were observed for a 16-month period in our centre. We monitored the patients on an interview basis, concerning the anamnestic data collection related to the pre-morbid period, information given by relatives regarding the patient's behaviour during the day, attitudes towards others, maintenance of previous interests and enjoyments, and modifications of the biological rhythm. Several tests were conducted, underlining a significant correlation between headache and mood disorders, impairment of working activity, social and family life. The study shows that patients affected by chronic daily headache and MOH present high levels of anxiety, a depressive symptomatology associated with alexithymia. Moreover, it has been discovered that anxiety and depression facilitate the onset of headache, while patients suffering from pain persistence were more vulnerable to psychiatric problems. In consideration of these results, more exhaustive evaluations relating to the psychopathological aspects in patients affected by headache are necessary.
J Headache Pain 2005 Sep
PMID:Headache and mood disorders. 1636 78

To evaluate the influence of psychometric variables on the "repeater" phenomenon in an emergency department, 15 "repeaters" and 27 outpatient migraineurs were recruited. All patients were submitted to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire and Migraine DIsability Assessment Scale (MIDAS). The "repeater" group showed higher MIDAS total scores (p=0.02) and higher scores in TAS-20 (p=0.02) than the outpatients. A higher frequency of alexithymic trait (p=0.02) and higher BDI scores (p=0.07) have also been observed in the "repeater" group than the outpatients. Alexithymia and depressive mood associated with high disability may be a specific psychosocial pattern of "repeater" migraineurs. The psychometric evaluation of this population may be important to explain the "repeaters" phenomenon.
J Headache Pain 2005 Sep
PMID:Migraine in the Emergency Department: a psychometric study of a migraine "repeaters" sample. 1636 93

The role of psychological factors related to headache, particularly tension-type headache (TTH), has long been a focus of investigation. The subject at issue is a complex one, with some aspects that are still being debated by experts. In episodic TTH, it is possible to hypothesise that headache is not only a "primary" headache that causes gratuitous pain to sufferers. In fact, it might represent an improper mode of communicating the sufferers' intimate discomfort, caused by an inadequate relationship between their personality profiles and events in their lives. As in migraine, in TTH, too, evidence has been found of comorbidity between headache and psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety disorder. Such evidence will have to be confirmed by further studies on the general population. As regards behaviour and personality traits, subjects with TTH had significantly higher scores than healthy controls on measures of automatic thoughts and alexithymia, and lower scores on assertiveness. Patients with chronic TTH had higher automatic thoughts scores than patients with episodic TTH. These findings suggest that people with TTH may have difficulty in expressing their emotions. Finally, psychological factors and emotional disturbances have been indicated as risk factors for TTH. Indeed, stress and mental tension are the most common factors that cause TTH.
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PMID:Human psyche and headache: tension-type headache. 1854 6


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