ABSTRACT
Headache is a common malady occurring in the majority of the population. Characterization of headache types has been an active arena in clinical research. The International Headache Society lists several hundred headache types, while Tension-type headache being the most prevalent form of head pain. Migraine is the most commonly disabling form of episodic headache and the most common headache that presents to health care professionals. Specifically, twelve percent of the population in the United States is afflicted with migraine. The purpose of this paper is to present the co- existence and the complex interaction between headache and certain psychiatric disorders. To be more precise, psychiatric comorbidities are a common presentation in sufferers of migraine headache, with numerous shared components, including family history and autonomic sympathomimetic symptom complexes, as well as shared treatment with similar medications. Psychiatric comorbidities with Migraine are depression, which is the most common psychiatric comorbidity, generalized anxiety, panic, stress, which is a major trigger of migraine attacks, borderline personality disorder and psychosis. The treatment approaches of managing migraines depend on the frequency and severity of attacks as well as associated medical and psychiatric conditions.
KEY WORDS: Headaches, Migraines, Psychiatric disorders, Treatment
