Behavioral treatment of children with recurrent headaches

The effectiveness of relaxation and biofeedback treatment for adults who suffer from headaches is well documented. By contrast, only several case study reports have been published describing these procedures applied to childhood headaches. This report describes the treatment of 15 children, aged 10-17 years, treated in a behavioral medicine clinic by using relaxation, biofeedback and behavioral counseling. At the end of treatment, 8 of 15 children were headache-free and 5 others exhibited a marked reduction in headache frequency and severity. Improvements were then maintained at follow-up. These results are comparable to results obtained when similar procedures are used to treat chronic adult headache sufferers.