Biofeedback, Brief Psychotherapy and Tension Headache

SYNOPSIS The present study was performed to compare the effectiveness of broadly‐based biofeedback and brief eclectic psychotherapy in alleviating tension headache. Twenty‐four patients diagnosed as suffering from this disorder were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: biofeedback, brief psychotherapy, biofeedback plus brief psychotherapy and waiting‐list control. Results indicated the equivalent effectiveness of the three active treatments in ameliorating various behavioral and psychophysiological aspects of tension headache. Contrary to expectation, broad‐gauged biofeedback produced more psychological gains than brief eclectic psychotherapy, The behavioral and psychophysiological findings are discussed in terms of a shared symptom‐removal focus, whereas the unexpected psychological findings are considered in light of headache patients' characteristic resistance to the psychological explanations of their illness afforded by psychotherapy.