Empirical studies suggest that an inefficient, negative communication could
represent a source of stress in the patient's everyday life and that this
kind of communication would also imply chronic migraine. The present study
used the "Kategoriensystem fur partnerschaftliche Interaktion (KPI)" to det
ermine whether the communication patterns of 12 women with migraine and the
ir partners differed from 12 women with chronic headache and their partners
and 12 healthy couples. The communication was video-filmed during the abou
t 10 min lasting interaction in a personally relevant conflict situation. A
s predicted, women with migraine and their partners made more negative and
fewer positive statements than the couples with tension headache and the co
ntrol dyads. Furthermore, a higher load in female migraine sufferers compar
ed to normal controls was indicated by coping activity.