The Temperament and Character Inventory in women with migraine

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to investigate: (1) the differences in temperament and character between 49 women with migraine and 49 controls using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and (2) the extent to which these differences were related to migraine or to the presence of comorbid depression. The migraine patients scored significantly higher than the controls in two temperament dimensions—Harm Avoidance (HA) and Persistence (P)—and significantly lower in one character dimension—Self-Directedness (SDir) (Student’s t ). After multiple logistic regression, the TCI P and HA dimensions were significantly associated with the presence of migraine. The HA dimension was also related to the presence of depression. Our results show that in migraine the higher HA score could be partly associated to comorbid depression while the high P dimension seems to be solely related to the presence of migraine.

Personality in patients with migraine evaluated with the "Temperament and Character Inventory"

“…Our migraine patients had higher scores in the HA scale than two different types of healthy controls. Our results are similar to earlier works of Di Piero et al and Mongini et al [6,25] using the TCI and consistent with other studies using other instruments such as the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology [36]. It has been suggested that this scale (Harm Avoidance) indicates a heritable predisposition to form conditioned signals of punishment and frustrative nonreward.…”

“…In a subsequent study Mongini et al [6] corroborated the presence of higher scores of HA in PWM compared with controls. Also the same study found higher scores of PE and lower scores of SD in PWM compared with controls [6]. On the other hand other studies have not shown the association of HA in PWM when it is controlled with the presence of depression measured with the Beck Depression Inventory, as Boz et al pointed out [26].…”

“…They tend to readily become inhibited and/or demonstrate shyness [37]. Also, patients are described as careful, insecure and with a high tendency towards anxiety and depression under stressful situations [6,25]. Deakin and Graeff [38] studied 31 patients using PET and the TPQ.…”

“…These authors suggested that the TCI supports a role of the serotonergic system in migraine pathophysiology and a possible dysfunction of dopaminergic and glutamatergic pathways as a specific feature of migraine [25]. In a subsequent study Mongini et al [6] corroborated the presence of higher scores of HA in PWM compared with controls. Also the same study found higher scores of PE and lower scores of SD in PWM compared with controls [6].…”

“…Their data suggested there was no evidence of a single modal personality profile among migraine patients. Most studies in this clinical population have evaluated personality using either the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) [5][6][7][8][9][10], the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire [11,12] or the Zuckerman-Kuhlman's Personality Questionnaire [13]. In general these studies tend to find differences between PWM and controls in the scales related with neuroticism, stress, depression, anxiety and hostility [5,11,13].…”