Comparing Attentional Bias to Facial Expressions of Pain and Coping Styles between Individuals with Migraine and Controls

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between different types of pain coping styles and attentional bias to facial expressions of headache in people with migraines. To this end, 44 individuals with migraine and 43 healthy controls in the age range of 18 to 50 years were selected as a sample of this study through available sampling method. The materials that we used in this study were the “Coping styles” questionnaire and “Dot Probe task”. Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to statistically analyze the data. The results show in terms of coping styles, there was a significant difference between the two groups. The control group used avoidance and problem-oriented styles significantly more than the individuals in migraine group. no significant difference between attentional bias towards facial expressions of headache in people with migraines and healthy controls. This finding potentially indicates that information processing with pain content in these people is carried out without any biases and probably has no role in maintaining the disease. However, attention to pain coping styles should be considered in the treatment process and teaching effective coping techniques.