In the history of children suffering from non-organic headache, the presence of periodic syndromes can often be found. In previous observations we ascertained that periodic syndromes are a common finding in children showing physical and behavioural characteristics of "hyperreactivity" in the first months of their lives. We have tried to verify, through a prospective study, whether children with "hyperreactivity" in the first months of life are particularly prone to develop periodic syndromes and/or non-organic headache. We have developed an appropriate test for the assessment of hyperreactivity in the first 6 months of life. We have isolated 183 hyperreactive subjects; 102 of them have been followed-up to an average age of 10.8 years, together with a control group of 80 subjects followed-up to an average age of 10.2 years. Of the 102 hyperreactive infants, 54 (52.9%) suffered from common migraine, versus 12 (15%) of the control group; 66 (64.5%) hyperreactive infants suffered from periodic syndrome, versus 10 (12.5%) of the control group. There was frequently a co-existence of migraine and periodic syndrome. It is thus possible to identify infants who are particularly prone to develop periodic syndromes and headache.
The Rorschach test was administered to 58 children of normal intelligence aged 7-14 years with a history of common migraine of at least 12 months and to a group of controls matched for age, sex, and IQ. The Rorschach test was scored blindly. The migraine group was characterized by marked intellectual inhibition with poor school performance and low response rates; inhibition of psychomotor activity and aggressiveness, shown by content analysis and by the presence of kinesthetic shock; inhibition of affect (ratio M/sum C); ineffective use of mechanisms of defence against anxiety (F-); prevalence of phobic features and massive use of repression, indicated by the high rejection rate and shock at red colour. The differences from the controls were significant at the 0.01 level with regard to all items in the preadolescent age group and with regard to all items except kinesthetic shock in the migraine group as a whole. There was thus a definite difference between the migraine group and the controls, a difference that might depend on impairment of ego function and on recurrent experience of pain.
Thirty-five children with idiopathic headache (average age 10.2 years) were subjected to various examinations and a series of tests (WISC, Bender, Rorschach, Duss, "tree" and "family" tests) on the nature and characteristics of headache with a view to establishing possible psychological peculiarities. The sample was correlated with a random control group of 20 subjects (average age 10.4 years) undergoing all of the above tests except the Rorschach test. This showed a significant decrease in the "digit span" WISC subtest and in the Bender test with respect to normal population, and a drop in "digit span" and in picture completion subtests and in headache length in months. Feelings of being excluded from the family group, insecurity and repressed hostility towards the important figures, were significantly stronger in the headache patients group.
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