A behavioral treatment of young migrainous and nonmigrainous headache patients: prediction of treatment success

Abstract

We evaluated the outcome of a behavioral treatment package in a clinical setting with a group of young (age: 12-22) headache patients, suffering from migrainous or nonmigrainous. Comparison between the experimental (n = 24) and the waiting-list control group (n = 15) showed a treatment effect on headache frequency and on the headache index. Using a 50% reduction in the headache activity as a criterion for clinical improvement, 52% of the participants in the experimental group had improved clinically at the end of the treatment. The treated participants were found to have maintained significant improvement at 1-year follow-up. The treatment effect was significantly high for nonmigrainous headache patients than for migraineurs. The most important background predictor of outcome was duration of headache history: youngsters with a longer headache history profited less by the treatment than youngsters with a shorter headache history. Family predictors of pre-post improvement were maternal rewarding of illness behavior and mother-child relationship Those youngsters who reported more rewarding and/or a more positive mother-child relationship profited less by the treatment than those who reported less rewarding and/or a less positive mother-child relationship. We conclude that therapists treating young headache patients should be alert to pain-rewarding patterns in the family.