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Behavioral Treatments for Migraine Management: Useful at Each Step of Migraine Care

  • Headache (RB Halker, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Migraine is a disabling and prevalent disorder. Migraine is most effectively treated with a stepped care approach, where patients initially receive a broad level of care (primary care) and proceed to receive increasingly specialized care throughout the course of treatment. Behavioral treatments for migraine modify behaviors of people with migraine with the intention to prevent migraine episodes and secondary consequence of migraine. Behavioral treatments can be incorporated into each level of the stepped care approach for migraine treatment. In this article, we provide a rationale for including behavioral treatment strategies in the treatment of migraine. We then describe and review the evidence for behavioral treatment strategies for migraine, including patient education, relaxation strategies, biofeedback, and cognitive behavioral treatment strategies. Finally, we describe how behavioral treatments can be integrated into a stepped care approach for migraine care.

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Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Conflict of Interest

Alexandra B. Singer declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Dawn C. Buse has received consultancy fees and paid travel accommodations from Allergan Pharmaceuticals, grants from Allergan, the National Headache Foundation, Novartis, and Teva/NuPathe, and payment for manuscript preparation from the National Headache Foundation.

Elizabeth K. Seng has received honoraria payments from the Headache Cooperative of New England and paid travel accommodations from the International Headache Academy.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Alexandra B. Singer & Elizabeth K. Seng

  2. Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 1575 Blondell Avenue, Suite 225, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Dawn C. Buse & Elizabeth K. Seng

  3. Clinical Health Psychology Doctoral Program, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University, 1575 Blondell Avenue, Suite 225, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Dawn C. Buse

  4. Montefiore Headache Center, Fellow, American Headache Society, 1575 Blondell Avenue, Suite 225, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Dawn C. Buse

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  1. Alexandra B. Singer
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  2. Dawn C. Buse
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  3. Elizabeth K. Seng
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Correspondence to Alexandra B. Singer or Elizabeth K. Seng.

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Singer, A.B., Buse, D.C. & Seng, E.K. Behavioral Treatments for Migraine Management: Useful at Each Step of Migraine Care. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 15, 14 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0533-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0533-5

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