Tension headache: disregulation at some levels of stress

This study evaluated the role of stress disregulation in tension headache. Two headache groups, a low-life stress group (N = 12) and a high-life stress group (N = 12), that represented different probable etiologies within the disregulation model were compared to analogous control groups. Subjects were selected after screening 441 undergraduate students. Measures of frontalis EMG and self-report acute stress were obtained at multiple intervals during a series of four laboratory stress tasks. Data supported the disregulation model as determined by replication of the significantly different correlations between self-report acute stress and EMG for the headache versus control groups reported by Hovanitz and co-workers (1989), and by several new within-group and within-individual analyses. Curiously, disregulation was found for acute and life stress but not for the intermediate level of daily hassle stress. These data are presented as support for a reformulation of Schwartz' disregulation model.