Confirmation of the distinction between chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache by the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

Objective: To investigate if the McGill Pain Questionnaire confirms the distinction between chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache.

Background: It has been suggested that different categories of chronic daily headache should be distinguished; in particular, chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache.

Methods: The McGill Pain Questionnaire and a visual analog scale were administered to 40 patients with chronic daily headache, 85 patients with migraine, and 47 patients with episodic tension-type headache.

Personality traits, depression and migraine in women: a longitudinal study.

Our purpose was to examine the association between personality traits, depression and migraine in the long term. In 56 women with migraine a psychological assessment was carried out to assess the presence of major depression, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were administered at baseline (T0) and after 6-7 years (T2). Frequency, severity and duration of migraine were recorded at T0, after treatment (T1) and at T2, and their relation to the prevalence of depression and to the MMPI and STAI data was examined (ANOVA, Student's t-test, chi2 analysis, and multiple regression analysis).

The McGill Pain Questionnaire in patients with TMJ pain and with facial pain as a somatoform disorder.

The purpose of this study was to assess the discriminative capacity of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) or with facial pain disorder as somatoform disorder (referred to as "atypical facial pain") (FP). The MPQ was administered to 57 TMD and 34 FP patients. Weighted MPQ item scores, subscale Pain Rating Indexes (PRI), and total Pain Rating Index were tested for significant differences (Student's t-test), and the frequency of descriptor choice was also analyzed.

MMPI-2 profiles in chronic daily headache and their relationship to anxiety levels and accompanying symptoms.

Objectives: To examine a group of patients with chronic daily headache using the revised version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) and to determine whether the data acquired were related to the anxiety levels of the patients, as detected by the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) 1, 2 and to the presence of a number of accompanying symptoms that are frequently observed in patients with chronic headache.

Background: In the last decade, the MMPI-2 was released and its items used to develop 15 "content scales." Recently, this instrument was adapted to the Italian population.