Background and purpose – Although headaches are often comorbid with psychological
symptoms, the underlying psychological processes, e.g. the role of personality dimensions
as headache determinants remains unclear. Studies found associations between headaches
and various personality traits; according to the Big Five model of personality, persons
suffering from headaches exhibit a higher rate in neuroticism, while a lower rate
in extraversion, openness to experiences and positive emotions. This is the first
study to clarify the associations among duration, intensity, and frequency of headaches
and personality dimensions. Through this study we could get into the personality dimensions
in the background of pain experience and that which personality dimensions bear a
part in the behaviour of the persons, who suffered from headache, but do not seek
treatment through this complaint. Methods – Treated (Group1) and untreated (Group2)
headache patients and healthy controls (Group3) were investigated (total of 360 participants).
The main headache components of intensity, duration, and frequency were used as dependent
variables with personality dimensions in the Big Five concept investigated by the
NEO-PI-R Personality Inventory. Results – Employing multiple regression analysis,
facets of personality described 14.7% of headache intensity, 10.9 % of duration, and
18.7 % of frequency variance. Group1 and Group2 reached significantly higher values
on the dimension of anxiety, depression, and vulnerability to stress than Group3.
Group1 showed a significantly higher value on trust personality dimension than Group3
and Group2. Group3 exhibited a significantly higher value in the trust dimension than
Group2. Concerning vulnerability to stress, the highest value was yielded by the “treated
and suffering from headaches” group and there was a significant difference also with
the “untreated and suffering from headaches” group and with the control group. In
this dimension, the “untreated and suffering from headaches” group’s point value was
significantly higher than the control group’s (p<0.01, U=-4.501). Conclusion – Our
study demonstrates that the three headache components are not independent from personality
traits, and personality traits may interact with treatment seeking behavior even in
the presence of significant headache complaints. The role of the personality traits
are significant in the intensity, duration and frequency of headaches.
