Childhood Traumatic Events and Dissociative Experiences in Patients With Chronic Headache and Low Back Pain

Abstract

Objective 

The aim of this study was to examine childhood traumatic experiences and dissociative characteristics in women with chronic headache and low back pain.

Setting 

The patients were evaluated in the multidisciplinary pain clinic of a university hospital.

Subjects 

This study included 73 patients: 41 with chronic headache and 32 with chronic low back pain.

Outcome Measures 

All the patients were assessed with use of a semistructured questionnaire, the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Childhood Abuse and Neglect Questionnaire.

Results and Conclusions 

There were no significant differences between the headache and low back pain groups in terms of prevalence of history of neglect; abuse; or sexual, physical, and emotional abuse separately. In addition, no significant differences were found between the groups with respect to the Dissociative Experiences Scale scores. However, analysis of the SDQ scores showed that the neglect rate in the two groups differed significantly. According to our findings, the neglect rate was higher in the headache group, thus warranting further research to investigate the sensitivity of the SDQ for neglect.