Personality characteristics before and after treatment of different head pain syndromes

In order to examine whether, in patients with different types of headache and craniofacial pain, MMPI and STAI scores are significantly different before and after treatment, 114 patients with tension-type headache (n = 34), atypical facial pain (n = 20), temporomandibular joint dysfunction (n = 36), migraine (n = 16), cluster headache (n = 4), chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (n = 2), trigeminal neuralgia (n = 2) were examined. A pain index was calculated (0-10) which quantified pattern, duration and frequency of pain. The Italian MMPI (356 item abbreviated version) and the STAI tests were administered before and after treatment. A paired t-test was used to assess pre- and post-treatment differences, and multiple regression analysis was employed to examine whether such differences correlated with the improvement in the pain index. In the total group after treatment, there was a significant reduction of certain MMPI scores (Hs, D, Hy, Pa, Pt, Sc, Si) and of STAI 1 and 2 scores. Separate analysis confirmed this among women but not among men. No relation was found between MMPI and STAI changes and the degree of improvement as assessed through the pain index. Clinical improvement leads to normalization of MMPI profiles and STAI scores in women. The psychometric data before treatment were not predictive for treatment outcome.