The Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy Combined with Short-Term Mindfulness Therapy on the Reduction of Migraine Disability and Improvement of Sleep Quality

Migraine headaches are one of the most common types of headaches that can cause significant dysfunction. Sleep disturbances are common symptoms and one of the stimulating factors of migraine. The goal of this study was to the comparison of the efficacy of pharmacotherapy combined with short-term mindfulness-based therapy and pharmacotherapy on the reduction of migraine disability and improvement of sleep quality in women with migraines.

The research was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with the control group. The statistical population of this study included all women with migraine attending to a psychosomatic clinic in Isfahan city from August to November of 2018. Twenty-eight patients who were diagnosed with migraines were randomly assigned to the experimental group (pharmacotherapy combined with short-term mindfulness-based therapy) and control group (pharmacotherapy). Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were administered to collect data.

Pharmacotherapy combined with short-term mindfulness-based therapy led to a significant reduction of migraine disability and intensity, improvement of sleep efficiency and quality, reduction of sleep latency, and daytime dysfunction compared to the control group. However, migraine frequency and other domains of sleep quality did not differ between the groups.

These data suggest that short-term mindfulness-based therapy besides pharmacotherapy could be effective for improving migraine disorder and sleep quality in patients with migraines.