Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Role for Visual Art Therapy in the Management of Migraine

  • Non-pharmacologic Aspects of Pain, Migraine, and Headache (D Buse, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Migraine is a disabling disorder that adversely affects the whole person and requires multimodal management. Through a brief historical overview of migraine as a subject for visual art, benefits reported from art therapy used in the management of other types of chronic pain, and a summary of the limited research involving art therapy for migraine, we aim to provide support for art therapy’s potential role in the management of migraine.

Recent Findings

As art therapy has been shown to be effective in the management of other chronic pain conditions, providing insight into the individual’s pain experience and perception of pain, ameliorating pain by means of distraction, and improving psychosocial health, by extension, it may be of benefit in the migraine population as well.

Summary

Migraine is disabling, and previous literature has shown efficacy in lifestyle modifications as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Based on its efficacy in other pain conditions, we suggest art therapy as an additional tool for the preventive management of migraine.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Karimi L, et al. The migraine-anxiety comorbidity among migraineurs: a systematic review. Front Neurol. 2020;11:613372.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Victor TW, et al. Association between migraine, anxiety and depression. Cephalalgia. 2010;30(5):567–75.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Krimmel SR, et al. Migraine disability, pain catastrophizing, and headache severity are associated with evoked pain and targeted by mind-body therapy. Pain. 2022;163(9):e1030–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Lui JZ, et al. Loneliness and migraine self-management: a cross-sectional assessment. J Prim Care Community Health. 2020;11:2150132720924874.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Seng EK, et al. Psychological factors associated with chronic migraine and severe migraine-related disability: an observational study in a tertiary headache center. Headache. 2017;57(4):593–604.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Perez-Munoz A, Buse DC, Andrasik F. Behavioral interventions for migraine. Neurol Clin. 2019;37(4):789–813.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Bae JY, et al. Cognitive behavioral therapy for migraine headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021:58(1).

  8. Parikh SK, Young WB. Migraine: stigma in society. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2019;23(1):8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Villalon CM, et al. An introduction to migraine: from ancient treatment to functional pharmacology and antimigraine therapy. Proc West Pharmacol Soc. 2002;45:199–210.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Foxhall K. In Migraine: a history. 2019: Baltimore (MD).

  11. American Migraine Foundation. Migraine moment short film contest. 2023. Available from: https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/7th-annual-migraine-moment-short-film-contest-winners/.

  12. Tsao CC, Gordon TF, Marantoc CD, Kerman C, Murasko D. The effects of music and biological imagery on immune response. In: Applications of music in medicine. Washington, DC: National Association for Music Therapy; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gfeller K. The function of aesthetic stimuli in the therapeutic process. In: Unkefer RF, editor. Music therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books; 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Vick R, Sexton-Radek K. Art and migraine: researching the relationship between artmaking and pain experience. Art Ther. 2005;26(3):114–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Wilkinson M, Robinson D. Migraine art. Cephalalgia. 1985;5(3):151–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Podoll K. Migraine art in the Internet: a study of 450 contemporary artists. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2006;74:89–107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Robinson L. My migraine-self-portrait. J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2013;27(3):203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Bollig G, et al. Migraine and art. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2005;125(6):777–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Crawford C, Lee C, Bingham J, Active Self-Care Therapies for Pain (PACT) Working Group. Sensory art therapies for the self-management of chronic pain symptoms. Pain Med. 2014;15(Suppl 1):S66–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Malchiodi CA. Medical art therapy with adults. Jessica Kingsley; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science. 1965;150(3699):971–9.

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Haaga MON. Effects of art therapy intervention for chronic pain and psychosocial comorbidities. 2015. https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_dissertations/.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Editing support is provided by John Rothrock, MD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Headache Division, University of Miami Health, 1120 NW 14 Street, Suite 1346, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Liza Smirnoff

  2. Division of Headache and Neuro-Ophthalmology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

    Kendra Pham

Authors
  1. Liza Smirnoff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kendra Pham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

L.S. wrote the initial manuscript text, and L.S. and K.P. drafted and revised the final manuscript. L.S. prepared Figs. 1 and 2, and K.P. obtained Fig. 3 with the permission of Dr. Christine Cliatt-Brown.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liza Smirnoff.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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. Ethics committee approval was not necessary for this article, and data presented were all from the literature review. Informed consent was not necessary for this article.

Disclaimer

The views described in the article do not reflect the views of University of Utah or the University of Miami Medical Centers and are solely based on the literature review and clinical experience of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smirnoff, L., Pham, K. A Role for Visual Art Therapy in the Management of Migraine. Curr Pain Headache Rep 28, 189–194 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01207-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01207-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation