Medical evidence has proven that mistreatment or abuse, and specifically emotional abuse puts a child at risk for chronic migraines later in life. There is also evidence it can lead to depression and anxiety later in life. This research also showed that 61% of the patients in the study also reported chronic pain conditions later in life such as irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, fibromyalgia, endometriosis and uterine fibroids. The American Headache Society’s Women’s Issues Section conducted this study.
The study which was led by Dr. Gretchen Tietjen of the University of Toledo Medical Center examined over 1,000 patients with doctor diagnosed migraines to come to the conclusions. Sixty one percent of the patients had at least one pain condition (as mentioned above) and of those 58% said they had been abused as children.
The study also showed that the number of different types of maltreatment the child suffered was also related to the number of chronic pain conditions in later life. In many cases migraines were the first condition the patients developed though so there is hope, Dr. Tietjen says, that treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy may help in these cases to alleviate the migraine pain along with pain from the other conditions.
First consider possible spinal injury from childhood abuse. The only nervous pathway between the brain and the body is via the cervical spine.
An infant’s head is relatively heavy: it is possible that the nerve connections could be permanently damaged by childhood abuse such as shaking. Such damage might manifest as non-nociceptive pain syndromes e.g. fibromyalgia, CFS, IBS, headaches etc. Such damage could be caused by a blameless accident too that passed unnoticed at the time.
It is not logical to assume a psychological connection when there is a practical physical one that must be investigated first.