| Summary: | Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston University === The purpose of this study is to investigate the significance of
suppression of hostility as a personality attribute of individuals who
have a history of migraine headache. Suppression is defined as a psychic
process which functions as an adjustive mechanism in the management
of hostile impulses. For purposes of this study, it is inferred
from the inhibition of the overt, social expression of hostility and the
appearance o:f heightened physiological tension. The overt behavior
expressive of hostility is designated as aggression. Thus, the general.
purpose of this study is an investigation of the management of aggression
ih persons who are prone to migraine.
Migraine as a specific form of headache has been described as a
clinical entity for centuries. Although the disorder was recognized
early, its etiology remains in dispute. Causation has been variously
ascribed to humoral, gastric, neural, constitutional, hereditary, or
emotional factors. The role of emotional factors has received increasing
attention, particularly in relationship to personality features of
persons susceptible to migraine, and has led to a consideration of migraine
as a psychosomatic disorder. Exploratory psychoanalytic case
studies have suggested that a characteristic psychodynamic feature of
persons with migraine is the suppression of rage. Suppression is considered
to be significant in both the personality structure of such
persons and in the precipitation of a migraine attack. These formulations
find support in such sources as: (1) the clinical observations
of analysts, including the observation that a migraine attack may occur
and terminate during a single treatment session, when hostility or rage
is relieved by use of appropriate verbalizations; (2) studies dealing
with the characteristic personality features of migraine-prone individuals;
(3) observations of the events typically antecedent to an attack.[Truncated]
|
|---|
