Migraine is oft lumped together with psychiatric disorders, most common of which being depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia.
A recent study conducted by Dr. Nathalie Jette from University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Ed. note - lovely name, BTW, is it supposed to be spelled with "th", may I ask?), examined these correlations. "The association between migraine and psychiatric disorders did not differ significantly according to gender, age, place of residence, or level of education," the study has found. (Ed. note - they don't seem to have taken race into account for some reason. Well, they are Canadians, we'll let it slip.)
I like the conclusions Dr. Jette has arrived to:
"The treatment of migraine is complex and requires significant time and effort on the part of both the patient and the physician."
"We strongly believe that patients with migraine and a psychiatric comorbidity such as anxiety and/or depression are best treated as part of a multidisciplinary program and that medications alone are often not sufficient to address these comorbid conditions."
We couldn't agree more even if we tried; and we have tried, doubt it not, my gentle readers...
There are, however, some issues to be taken with this article, if not the study itself. It seems to suggest that said psychiatric disorders are more or less inherent in migraine patients. They also used the term "
comorbidity" way too often, a $5 word the sound of which makes the whole thing seem even more hopeless.
There is no denying that there is a large amount of depressed and anxious migraine people out there. Those psychiatric illnesses are a burden to many of us. The question is, however, are they really something that all the migraine people have or do they develop
independently of the migraine? The study does not specify.
To get some perspective on the reported correlations, lets do a small exercise in a positive deconstruction:
- Depression - it's hard not to be a little bit blue from time to time when you are diagnosed with something that cannot be cured. Like migraine for example. Totally cool, a normal human reaction.
- Panic disorder - being a little anxious is normal for anyone as well. And for the same reasons as mentioned above, migraine people might have panic attacks happen somewhat more frequently compared to normals. As in the following scenario - "Where did I put my triptans? I swear I had them right here! Who stole my triptans?! Oh, there they are..."
- Bipolar disorder - let's not full ourselves, this is a serious matter - THEY are out to get us. You know, THEY, as in THEM... Oh wait, what if they have already got us and we don't know it? What we gonna do then? Nah, they couldn't have, we've are too smart for THEM, we've been on the lookout for THEY/THEM for a long time now, THEY couldn't have possibly. Could they? :P
- Social phobia - well, it's not like we purposefully avoid to be around other people but... People are loud, they smell weird, they are more or less just a trigger for a migraine attack. Go to the place where lots of those so-called people congregate and it's a headache waiting to happen. We are just being careful so, normals, please don't take offense. You amuse and entertain us and we like you bunches.
In all seriousness, the question remains - are we, the migraine people, really more pre-disposed to psychiatric disorders? Perhaps genetically? A common-sense answer would be yes, there are things going on in our brains that don't happen to normals.
On the other hand, as we saw above, there are some mitigating circumstances that might "help" some of those neurological disorders to develop. Thus it becomes the question of
Nature versus Nurture.
One way or the other, migraine deserves more serious attention and more diversified and multidisciplinary treatment that is currently practiced. We can only hope that looking at it from a broader, perhaps even philosophical point of view, would eventually get us there.
link: Migraine often associated with psychiatric disorders
