Migraine Difficult to Treat: the Importance of Psychological Care in the Chronic Patient

Chronic diseases (CD) are characterized by their long duration, unpredictable changes in their course, in the person's appearance, limitations in physical capacity, prolonged dependence on medical specialists, continuous treatments and need for assistance.

Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by episodic and recurrent attacks, which usually present with headache usually associated with hypersensitivity to external stimuli (visual, auditory, olfactory and cutaneous), nausea and vomiting. Migraine can be considered as a chronic process. Within this category, CM is diagnosed in persons in whom migraine attacks appear at least 15 days per month in the last three months, and in whom the headache and associated symptoms correspond to migraine attacks on at least 8 days per month. They are then said to suffer from chronic migraine CM. CM is considered to be the result of an increase in headache frequency over months or years, in a process called migraine transformation or chronification. CM usually affects people of productive age, causes great individual and social costs, and is associated with numerous comorbidities. Its usual treatment includes control measures to avoid migraine triggers, modification of risk factors and administration of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, which both address and prevent attacks.

The prevalence of migraine in Western countries is between 10-16%, with a predominance in women of 2-3/18 (more than double in women). According to the WHO, migraine affects 6% of men and 18% of women and is the sixth most disabling disease in the world, taking into account the quality of life lost during the episodes, which in the most severe cases can involve constant pain for more than 15 days a month. These extremes affect one man for every eight women. This fact is one of the reasons why the disease has been stigmatized for so long. Evolutionarily, 2.5-3% of patients with episodic migraine (EM) develop CM annually.

These data point to the importance of knowing which factors can increase the risk of chronification and aggravation of the migraine patient. Knowing these factors allows us to better understand the mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of pain, so that investigators can act on them to modify the course of migraine and improve the quality of life of these patients. The risk factors related to these patients have been divided into three groups10-14: non-modifiable, modifiable and other factors.

Among the risk factors for chronification and aggravation in migraine patients, investigators would like to point out those that the literature indicates as modifiable, highlighting significantly the impact of aspects such as: stressful life events, sleep disorders, degree of disability caused by migraines, impact of the headache on daily life, level of catastrophizing about the pain, perception of psychological well-being, perceived quality of life and level of existing emotional distress (anxiety, depression, stress).