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Dr Manjit Matharu
Queen Square Private Healthcare
Can chronic headaches cause depression?
Dr Manjit Matharu, a Consultant Neurologist at Queen Square, says anxiety and depression is an understable reaction to the highly disabling chronic headache pain which by definition occurs on 15 or more days per month which can be very disabling and cause significant pain.
Transcript
Chronic headaches by definition are headaches that occur on 15 or more days per month. People who have chronic headaches are highly disabled. So it's not surprising that just having pain on a very frequent basis can make you feel either depressed or anxious. It is a very well known concept, and in fact what we find is that patients with chronic headaches, anywhere between 50 and 60 percent will say that they will develop mild anxiety or depression. That is an understandable reaction and the vast majority of patients do, having a highly disabling disorder.
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