Efficacy of Emotion-Focused Therapy of Emotional Components in Women with Migraine Headache: a Clinical Trial Study

Introduction: Migraine disorder is a common psychosomatic disorder in which emotional and psychological factors are involved in its development. Emotion-focused therapy can be considered as an effective factor in the management of this disorder. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Emotion-focused therapy on emotional components in female patients with migraine. Methods: It was conducted as a semi-experimental study featuring pre-test and post-test in two groups, one experimental and one control. The statistical population of the study comprised women experiencing migraine in Yazd City in 2024. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Prior to treatment, patients filled out the Emotional Belief Questionnaire (EBQ), Empathy Scale (PES), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS-21) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS); this assessment was made in the post-test phase. The length of the intervention period of emotion-focused therapy for the experimental group comprised 8 sessions of 90 minutes each, scheduled weekly. Data analysis was performed utilizing multivariate analysis of covariance and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 16. Results: The findings demonstrated that regarding emotional beliefs and their dimensions, as along with anxiety, depression, and stress, the group undergoing emotion-focused treatment had a significantly lower mean than the control group (P≤0.05). Regarding the empathy variable and its dimensions, all except for the ability to recognize negative emotions in others, the emotion-focused treatment group attained a significantly higher mean compared to the control group (P≤0.05). Conclusion: The Research findings indicated that individuals with migraine headaches have difficulty experiencing and processing their emotions and experience worry and self-blame. Accordingly, the emotional therapy protocol is applicable for migraine patients and can successfully enhance the emotional aspects of these individuals.