Personality traits in migraine and tension-type headaches: a five-factor model study

Although abnormal personality traits have been frequently reported in patients with primary headaches, the overlaps between these domains need a clear standard definition, for example, by a five-factor personality model. Moreover, personality abnormalities in patients with episodic tension-type headache (ETH) and migraine with aura (MA) are less well studied. Therefore, we administered Zuckerman-Kuhlman's Personality Questionnaire to 72 patients suffering from chronic tension-type headaches (CTH), 33 with ETH, 15 with MA and 57 with migraine without aura (MO), as well as 58 healthy subjects. Depressive trends were measured with Plutchik-van Praag's Depression Inventory. Compared to healthy controls, the CTH, ETH and MO groups showed significantly greater neuroticism-anxiety and depression. In addition, the MO group scored significantly higher on aggression-hostility than healthy controls. No abnormal personality traits were found in patients with MA. This study, from the perspective of a five-factor model, confirms most previous reports about personality in patients with primary headaches and establishes elevated aggression-hostility only in MO sufferers.