Tough one. I think I would have to go with a professor in a behavioral psychology class in college who introduced me to the "migraine personality." From what I can remember, this theory stated that migraineurs were anxious, depressive, and controlling and that our headaches were the result of these dysfunctional personality variables. I found this extremely offensive as well as impossible to prove. It's a chicken and egg question really. If you suffered from extreme and uncontrollable pain, you may be anxious and depressed as well. You also may try to control your environment to prevent headache triggers.
Sadly, this theory still exists. As recently as 2007, a study was done on the "migraine personality." The results claimed that
Patients suffering from migraine show more depressive symptoms, difficult anger management with a tendency to hypercontrol, and a distinctive personality profile with high harm avoidance, high persistence and low self-directedness.... The results suggest that the personality traits and psychosomatic mechanisms of migraine patients may make them vulnerable to stress and less skilled in coping with pain.Great. Just what we need. In addition to such helpful advice as "have you tried Advil?"now we can be subjected to advice about shoring up our poor coping skills and doing a better job dealing with our anger. Such blatant stupidity is enough to give me a migraine!
"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."
I know more than a few people who have anger management issues, not to mention controlling personalities ~~~ and they don't suffer from migraines! I suffered horribly and didn't fit any criteria. Nor does my son. Another interesting post!
ReplyDeleteThe term "educated fool" springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteI say....WHAT BULLSHIT they serve up!
ReplyDeleteAnother WASTE of tax dollars for this dumbass study.
(((hugs)))Pat
"Patients suffering from migraine show more depressive symptoms, difficult anger management with a tendency to hypercontrol, and a distinctive personality profile with high harm avoidance, high persistence and low self-directedness.... The results suggest that the personality traits and psychosomatic mechanisms of migraine patients may make them vulnerable to stress and less skilled in coping with pain. "
ReplyDeleteShow me ONE PERSON... just one... who doesn't have at least one if not two, three or ALL of those traits at one time or another.
Kind of like saying, "Migraine sufferers are prone to breathing oxygen."
Sort of like the meme that circulated awhile about how all convicted felons were bread eaters.
Wow.
During an internship I sat next to a licensed therapist who went on and on about how she used to have terrible migraines but thank the maker hers were all gone to a guy who checked himself into our substance abuse ward to detox from migraine meds before getting a brain implant. This was after the "have you tried xyz" spiel, which was implied the fact that he did not have the typical problems of an addict and was just trying to come off his meds safely.
ReplyDeleteI periodically get migraines but after looking at this guy try not to throw up while talking to us I had no desire to have a one-uppy conversation with him much less talk about how I figured out what caused mine and got them to stop.