Relaxation training and written emotional disclosure for tension or migraine headaches: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background And Purpose: Behavioral medicine interventions that directly reduce arousal and negative emotions, such as relaxation training (RT), are conceptually different from interventions that temporarily increase negative emotions, such as written emotional disclosure (WED), but no studies have directly compared their efficacy. We compared the effects of RT and WED on people with tension or migraine headaches.

Methods: College students with either tension (n = 51) or migraine (n = 90) headaches were randomized to one of three groups: RT, WED, or a neutral writing control condition; four sessions were held over 2 weeks.

Emotional approach coping and self-efficacy moderate the effects of written emotional disclosure and relaxation training for people with migraine headaches.

Objectives: We tested whether emotional skills and headache management self-efficacy (HMSE) moderated effects of written emotional disclosure (WED) compared with control writing and a different intervention, relaxation training (RT).

Design/methods: Undergraduates with migraine headaches reported emotional approach coping (EAC) and HMSE; were randomized to WED, RT, or control; and assessed on health measures at baseline and 3-month follow-up.

Results: Greater EAC predicted improvement following WED compared with RT and control, whereas low HMSE predicted improvement following both WED and RT, compared with control.

Alexithymia and pain in three chronic pain samples: comparing Caucasians and African Americans.

Objective: African Americans often report greater pain than do Caucasians, but the factors responsible for this discrepancy are not known. We examined whether alexithymia-the trait of difficulty identifying and describing one's feelings and lacking introspection-may contribute to this ethnic group difference. We tested whether the mean level of alexithymia is higher, and whether alexithymia and pain are more highly correlated, among African Americans than among Caucasians in patients with chronic pain disorders.