Typus melancholicus as a personality characteristic of migraine patients

Abstract

The present study tests the hypothesis that persons suffering from migraine show personality traits of the "typus melancholicus" (melancholy type, Tellenbach). Ninety-six migraineurs were compared to 115 normal subjects, 36 neurotics, 38 psychosomatic patients, 52 patients suffering from other pain disorders and 38 unipolar depressives, matched for sex, age and social status. Several already standardized personality inventories were used (MP-T, D-S, FAPK, IAF, GT-S), as well as a questionnaire constructed especially to record typus-melancholicus traits in migraineurs. The results of univariate and multivariate methods of comparison clearly confirmed the hypothesis. In contrast to normal subjects, neurotic, psychosomatic and pain patients, migraineurs showed significantly higher levels of typus-melancholicus traits, whereas they did not differ from the unipolar depressives in this respect.