Freud and migraine: the beginning of a psychodynamically oriented view of headache a hundred years ago.
Sigmund Freud, the famous Viennese founder of psychoanalysis, suffered from recurrent episodes of severe headache. Autobiographic and biographic data make it evident that he had migraine. Freud's theoretical approaches to pain in general and to migraine in particular are discussed. Initially, Freud's theories on the etiopathogenesis of pain and migraine focused on neurophysiological hypotheses which are of historical interest. They were replaced by psychodynamic hypotheses which are still important for our current understanding of pain and headache. These psychodynamic pain theories are reviewed and their importance for headache research is discussed.
Karwautz
A
A
Department of Neuropsychiatry of Childhood and Adolescence, University of Vienna, Austria.
Wöber-Bingöl
C
C
Wöber
C
C
D001317:Austria; D005619:Freudian Theory; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000266:history*; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000266:history*