The Effect of Guided Imagery and Relaxation Therapy on Allaying the Headache and Headache- Caused Disability in Women with Migraine

The target of this study was to determine the effectiveness of guided imagery and relaxation therapy on allaying the headache and improving the headache-caused disability in women with migraine in Ahwaz. The subjects were 30 female patients with migraine that were selected by simple random sampling among the clients referred to neurology clinics in Ahwaz. The participants were allocated in to three equal groups; two experimental (guided imagery group and relaxation therapy group) and one control group; giving equal chance to each subjects to be included in any ones. The research was designed as experimental type of pre-test and post test with one control group and follow-up test. Najarian Migraine Headache Symptoms Assessment Scale, Galvanic Skin Response Biofeedback (GSR) and Temperature Biofeedback were implemented as data source. Pre-test was performed for all the groups. Then the experimental groups were exposed to guided imagery and relaxation therapy. Post test implied after intervention for both the experimental and control groups. After a period of one month, once again a follow up test was taken from all the participants. Multivariate Covariance Analysis (MANCOVA) was applied as statistical procedure. Results indicated that guided imagery and relaxation therapy were effective on migraine headache symptoms allaying and improving the headache-caused disability.