Migraine Headache and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in a Student Sample

Several lines of investigation suggest that obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD) may be associated with serotonergic dysfunction. Researchers have also suggested that serotonin plays an important role in the migraine headache process. However, there are few published reports examining the relation between clinical OCD and migraine headache. Researchers have suggested that the migraine headache syndrome and OCD are “affective spectrum disorders” (1). Indeed, Hudson and colleagues (1) claimed that migraine headache is associated with other psychiatric and medical conditions including major depressive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bulimia, cataplexy, dysthymic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, social phobia, fibromyalgia, and OCD. Researchers have found that there are increased odds for individuals with migraine to also have OCD. Breslau (2) found that the adjusted (for gender) Migraine Headache and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in a Student Sample