Well-Being Therapy for Depressive Symptoms in Chronic Migraine: A Case Report

Abstract

Depression in chronic migraine is a common and vexing problem. Stress-oriented psychotherapies showed to improve depressive symptoms but not to affect migraine disability or attacks. Well-Being Therapy (WBT) is a short-term psychotherapy intervention based on promoting well-being and optimizing functioning, which showed to be effective in the treatment of residual depressive symptoms and chronic pain. This single case describes an account of successful WBT for a case of chronic migraine with depressive symptoms. The patient is a 37-year old employed, engaged, Caucasian heterosexual woman who had chronic migraine without aura and depressive symptoms and received eight WBT sessions. Number of migraine attacks, migraine disability, and psychological variables were assessed at baseline, at sessions 4 and 8 of WBT, and at 3-month follow-up. At session 8 of WBT, a decrease in number of migraine attacks and migraine disability was observed together with an improvement on depressive symptoms as well as an increase of well-being and euthymia. The positive effects of WBT were maintained at 3-month follow-up. WBT may be a promising intervention for chronic migraine patients with depressive symptoms.