• Olga Slavin-Spenny, Mark A Lumley, Elyse R Thakur, Dana C Nevedal, and Alaa M Hijazi.
• Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, 5057 Woodward Ave., 7th Floor, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
• Ann Behav Med. 2013 Oct 1;46(2):181-92.

Background And PurposeStress contributes to headaches, and effective interventions for headaches routinely include relaxation training (RT) to directly reduce negative emotions and arousal. Yet, suppressing negative emotions, particularly anger, appears to augment pain, and experimental studies suggest that expressing anger may reduce pain. Therefore, we developed and tested anger awareness and expression training (AAET) on people with headaches.MethodsYoung adults with headaches (N = 147) were randomized to AAET, RT, or a wait-list control. We assessed affect during sessions, and process and outcome variables at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment.ResultsOn process measures, both interventions increased self-efficacy to manage headaches, but only AAET reduced alexithymia and increased emotional processing and assertiveness. Yet, both interventions were equally effective at improving headache outcomes relative to controls.ConclusionsEnhancing anger awareness and expression may improve chronic headaches, although not more than RT. Researchers should study which patients are most likely to benefit from an emotional expression or emotional reduction approach to chronic pain.

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