Personality TYPES in patients with headache

Headache is one of the most frequent complaint reasons in hospitals and primary healthcare organizations. Poor quality of life and workforce as well as the cost of examination and treatment lead to both economical and social difficulties. Recent studies have shown that there is a correlation between headache and types of personality. In terms of primary care, it would be a better approach to focus on the patient who applies with headache complaint as a whole with biological, physchological and sociological aspects during diagnosis and treatment rather than merely focusing on the symptom.In this study,our aim is to evaluate whether there has been a relationship between headache complaints of patients and their types of personality. This study is a case control research and it has been conducted with the approval of participants and ethics committee. A total of 478 patients took part in the study, of the patients 234 were study group and 244 were the control group. A sociodemographic data form consisting of 14 questions and Taştan Personality İnventory consisting of 44 questions were conducted to the participants analyses.Total data of the statistical analyses were carried out by using SPSS 22.0 programme. Of the partipicants 41.0% were females and 59.0% were males. While headache was identified in 51.5% of females,the rate was 47.5% in males.According to the types of personality scale, 23.0% of the participants have personality type 2 and 15.7% of them have personality type 7 and 9. The headache ratios in terms of personality types were 60.0% in personality type 1, 58.3% in personality type 4, 55.6% in personality type 5 and 62.5% in personality type 8. In conclusion, while the incidence rate of headache was higher in participants with personality type 4, a significant correlation between headache and other types of personality has not been observed. It is important to pay regard to the psychological factors and types of personality of patients applying with headache complaint in primary care. For this reason, our study needs to be supported with more comprehensive and multicentered studies. Key words: Headache, personality, enneagram.