Psychological evaluation of a primary headache patient

A patient's experience with headache is influenced, not only by the frequency and pain of the attacks, but also by the patient's perception of the controllability of the attacks, their willingness to engage in activities despite attacks and their attitude towards the medications used to treat the headaches. Clinicians are often aware of the need to evaluate their patients for the existence of comorbid psychiatric disorders but may be less aware of the importance of these nonpathological beliefs/attitudes that are present to some degree in every headache sufferer. This article gives an overview (by no means exhaustive) of several important psychological constructs, with an emphasis on how these constructs can be assessed in headache patients using freely available paper-pencil questionnaires.