More than 40 million Americans suffer from chronic, recurrent headaches, which are not limited by race, culture, lifestyle, occupation, or geography. In addition to loss of productivity, billions of dollars are spent on various forms of treatment and habituation to medications, and secondary problems with life partners, the home setting, and the workplace are significant.
Frequent headaches interfere with ability to function adequately and enjoy life.
The chronic headache sufferer is not understood adequately. Beliefs about headaches and attitudes toward the headache sufferer bring about feelings of a personal weakness within or fear of secondary gain, such as sympathy and avoidance of responsibility in the patient.