Chronic diseases (CD) are characterized by their long duration, unpredictable changes in
their course, in the person's appearance, limitations in physical capacity, prolonged
dependence on medical specialists, continuous treatments and need for assistance.
Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by episodic and recurrent attacks, which
usually present with headache usually associated with hypersensitivity to external stimuli
(visual, auditory, olfactory and cutaneous), nausea and vomiting. Migraine can be considered
as a chronic process. Within this category, CM is diagnosed in persons in whom migraine
attacks appear at least 15 days per month in the last three months, and in whom the headache
and associated symptoms correspond to migraine attacks on at least 8 days per month. They are
then said to suffer from chronic migraine CM. CM is considered to be the result of an
increase in headache frequency over months or years, in a process called migraine
transformation or chronification. CM usually affects people of productive age, causes great
individual and social costs, and is associated with numerous comorbidities. Its usual
treatment includes control measures to avoid migraine triggers, modification of risk factors
and administration of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, which both address
and prevent attacks.
The prevalence of migraine in Western countries is between 10-16%, with a predominance in
women of 2-3/18 (more than double in women). According to the WHO, migraine affects 6% of men
and 18% of women and is the sixth most disabling disease in the world, taking into account
the quality of life lost during the episodes, which in the most severe cases can involve
constant pain for more than 15 days a month. These extremes affect one man for every eight
women. This fact is one of the reasons why the disease has been stigmatized for so long.
Evolutionarily, 2.5-3% of patients with episodic migraine (EM) develop CM annually.
These data point to the importance of knowing which factors can increase the risk of
chronification and aggravation of the migraine patient. Knowing these factors allows us to
better understand the mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of pain, so that investigators
can act on them to modify the course of migraine and improve the quality of life of these
patients. The risk factors related to these patients have been divided into three
groups10-14: non-modifiable, modifiable and other factors.
Among the risk factors for chronification and aggravation in migraine patients, investigators
would like to point out those that the literature indicates as modifiable, highlighting
significantly the impact of aspects such as: stressful life events, sleep disorders, degree
of disability caused by migraines, impact of the headache on daily life, level of
catastrophizing about the pain, perception of psychological well-being, perceived quality of
life and level of existing emotional distress (anxiety, depression, stress).
It is often difficult to treat patients with CM pharmacologically and obtain satisfactory
results for them. Within the existing medical therapeutic possibilities, it is necessary to
help the patient to form real expectations of the efficacy and safety of each treatment, as
well as the possibilities they offer to control their disease. In this regard, there are very
few studies in the scientific literature that apply psychological care protocols in this
particular type of chronic patients (with CM) with clinical symptoms resistant to
improvement. There is research related to chronic pain in other types of clinical conditions
(back pain, pain associated with neoplasms...), but it is very scarce in patients with
chronic resistant migraine.