At this year's annual scientific meeting of the American Headache Society, a research poster was presented, The Stigma of Migraine, by J.E. Park, J. Kempner, and W.B. Young. Their conclusion read,
"This is the first study to evaluate stigma in Migraineurs. Stigma is significant in Migraineurs attending a clinic as measured with the SSCI. It is worse in chronic than episodic Migraineurs, and correlates with disability but not with age, gender, income, or education."
Why is there such a stigma still attached to Migraine? One reason is connected to the lack of adequate research funding. Migraine is still poorly understood by the general public and not fully understood even by experts. Research into exactly what Migraine is and "how it works" would be beneficial in many ways including development of new treatments and reducing the stigma through better understanding.
If you'd like to read more about the research behind the poster presentation and the results of the research, read Migraine Burden Worsened by Stigma.
Dr. Young and Dr. Park joined me in doing a podcast about Migraine and Stigma. It was an enlightening conversation, and it was long enough that it's been broken into two episodes. You can listen to the first segment in Migraine and Stigma, Part 1. Part 2 will be posted next week.
Teri Robert
There is still literature floating around about the "migraine personality" and psuedopsychiatric neurologists that cry conversion disorder every time a person refuses to say they are "cured" or says they have been to 10 doctors and not received any relief.
No wonder chronic headache sufferers feel stigmatized when they are treated as if they are attention seeking Munchausen machines by the physicians who are supposed to help them.
Sorry - this is a sore point with me - I have excellent care now but it took many bad experiences to get to this place.
Posted by: winny | 08/26/2010 at 05:17 PM