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In a study recently published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, researchers from St Louis University looked at 422 adults including 171 individuals who suffered from headaches to evaluate the impact of anger and its method of expression as a precipitant for headache. Scientists looked at how angry a person is, how much he or she internalizes anger and how severe and frequent headaches are. They also considered whether the individual was anxious or depressed since both have been linked to headaches.
Interestingly enough, they found that while anger can be one of the many things that interact to trigger headaches, holding in anger is the biggest predictor of headaches - even more so than anxiety or depression. Participants provided information regarding their headache characteristics. They were then administered affective trait measures (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Brief Symptom Inventory-Depression), trait anger measures (Trait Anger Scale, Cook-Medley Hostility Scale), and other hostility measures.
Investigators conclude that "current findings indicate that persons with headache hold their anger in more than those without headache even after controlling for levels of trait anger, depression, and anxiety." They add that after controlling for depression and anxiety, individuals no longer differed on trait anger. The strongest predictor of headache was 'anger in'. The current findings suggest that holding anger in is more common among headache sufferers. Given recent findings regarding the negative effect of holding anger in among persons with pain conditions, this may be an important factor to evaluate when considering psychological/emotional factors affecting headache.
10:34:39 PM 
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