MIGRAINE - TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER

The personality profile of 26 adult migraine patients from a large Swe dish family with migraine and 87 controls were studied by means of Clo ninger's seven-factor model of Temperament and Character (TCI; Tempera ment and Character Inventory). For the diagnosis of migraine, a questi onnaire, slightly modified to fit the criteria according to the AD HOC committee on the classification of headaches of the International Hea dache Society, was used. The TCI assesses four dimensions of temperame nt, including novelty-seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward depend ence (RD) and persistence (P), and three dimensions of character, incl uding self-directedness (SD), co-operativeness (C) and self-transcende nce (ST). Psychiatric morbidity did not differ between this family and the general population. One migraine patient had double depression (d ysthymia and recurrent depression) and one had a personality disorder. No significant difference could be found in the higher order dimensio ns of temperament (NS, HA, RD and P) and character (SD, C and ST) betw een migraine patients and controls. However, on the subscale level, NS showed a slightly higher average in NS1 (exploratory excitability) an d a significantly higher (p=0.0448) average in NS2 (impulsivity) in mi graine patients compared to controls. Somatic anxiety has been shown t o be positively correlated with NS, and especially impulsivity. Our re sults showed a tendency of this personality profile, and may suggest a n association between migraine and somatic anxiety. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.