‘Psychological health’: The link between Migraine, Depression and Anxiety

Migraine is linked to both depression and anxiety.

About 20% of people with episodic migraine headaches on 14 or fewer days per month may also have depression, and that number goes up as the number of headache attack days per month increases. Similarly, about 20% of people with episodic migraine have anxiety, and between 30% and 50% of people with chronic migraine also have anxiety.

What’s the link?

Doctors aren’t entirely sure what the connection between Migraine, Depression and Anxiety is. For many people, depression or anxiety begins months or years after their migraines start partially because migraine can be so debilitating. Many others, however, develop migraine after living with depression or anxiety for some time. This indicates that depression and anxiety are not always a response to living with migraine. Like migraine, depression and anxiety can also run in families.

Symptoms

Common symptoms of anxiety, like excessive worry, fear and irritability, can play off of migraine symptoms.

Patients worry about when the next attack will come, feel helpless about the unpredictability of their symptoms, and feel frustration over the many ways that migraine is affecting their life.When a person doesn’t know when the next attack is coming, it can cause a great deal of migraine anxiety, and, ultimately, depression.

Symptoms of depression include fatigue, loss of interest or pleasure in things previously enjoyed, changes in sleep, changes in eating habits, and feelings of sadness and hopelessness, which also closely mirror common migraine symptoms like insomnia, loss of appetite and malaise.

Treatment options

Depression and anxiety are treatable in many ways, including through medications that target nerve transmitters. But there are also nonpharmacological therapies.

Treatments that include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) help us better manage stress and change the ways that we think and act, which could be contributing to our feelings of depression and anxiety.

Relaxation therapies are similarly effective for some in treating anxiety and depression, as well as combating stress, which can exacerbate migraine symptoms. These strategies involve calming the nervous system with meditative exercises like deep breathing or guided visual imagery.

However, staying active and healthy is important for patients who experience migraines and depression or anxiety, as is maintaining a consistent sleep schedule.

This article is taken from American Migraine Foundation Mission.