Psychological flexibility in migraine: A study of pain acceptance and values-based action

BackgroundStudies of musculoskeletal pain patients confirm that acceptance of pain and values-based action are strong predictors of pain-related disability and that interventions fostering “psychological flexibility” confer positive outcomes. However, data on these processes in migraine remain limited. This cross-sectional study examined relations between components of psychological flexibility and headache among treatment-seeking migraineurs.MethodsA total of 103 adults (M age = 41.5 (11.9) years; 88.2% female) with ICHD-confirmed migraine (71.8% episodic, 28.2% chronic) across three clinics completed measures of psychological flexibility and headache-related disability. Hierarchical regressions quantified relations between acceptance/values-based action and headache variables after first controlling for pain severity and gender.ResultsAcceptance of pain and values-based action accounted for 10% of unique variance in headache severity (ΔR2p = 0.006) and up to 20% in headache-related disability (ΔR2ps = 0...