Identifying cognitive‐affective mechanisms underlying disability in episodic migraine: Using the fear avoidance model to examine interactions

This study emphasizes the important role of (potentially modifiable) dysfunctional cognitive pain processing and provides empirical evidence for the theoretical assumptions of the FAM. Attack frequency, pain intensity, fear of attacks, and depressiveness were found to be independent predictors of subjectively and quantitatively measured disability in episodic migraine. Pain catastrophizing was identified to be a crucial cognitive-affective factor mediating the relationship between pain experience and disability.