Gender-related stress factors and emotional perception in migraine: a structured online questionnaire in migraine patients and controls

Abstract

Background While migraine is markedly prevalent in women, gender-related phenotype differences were rarely assessed. For this reason, we investigated, through a multicenter observational cross-sectional study, based on an online questionnaire, gender-related differences in stress factors, emotions, and pain perception in migraine patients and controls and their impact on migraine severity. Methods The study was designed as an online questionnaire. The link was emailed to healthy subjects (C) and migraine patients (MIG) (age 18–75, education ≥ 13 years) recruited during the first visit in 8 Italian Headache Centers adhering to Italian Society for Headache Study (SISC). The questionnaire included personal/social/work information, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Romance Quality Scale, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Body Perception Questionnaire, the pain perception, and a self-assessment of migraine severity in the last 3 months. Results 202 MIG and 202 C completed the survey. Independently from gender, migraine was characterized by higher pain sensitivity and more severe partner relationships. The female gender, in MIG, exhibited higher anxiety scores, body awareness, and reduced emotional suppression. Body awareness and emotional suppression were discriminating factors between genders in control and migraine groups without relevant influence on disease features. Perceived perception of migraine severity was similar between genders. Conclusion Gender-related emotional and stress factors did not contribute to delineate a distinct phenotype in migraine men and women. The possible impact of emotional and stress factors characterizing genders could be considered for a single case–tailored therapeutic approach.

Exploring Embodied and Bioenergetic Approaches in Trauma Therapy: Observing Somatic Experience and Olfactory Memory

“…One of the causes of muscle tension can be precisely trauma: when an individual lives a traumatic experience and does not face it consciously, they are afflicted with fear, a stress that, if chronic, can define the structure of PTSD. All this accumulates within the body, resulting in muscle tension, which contributes to numerous other diseases, such as chronic pain, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, and hypertension [49][50][51].…”