"The reasons for the connection are not fully understood, said the study's lead author, Dr. Shuu-Jiun Wang, of Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan. "

"But, Wang told Reuters Health, the prevailing theory is that some people have an underlying vulnerability to both migraine and certain psychiatric disorders. "

"The findings, which appear in the journal Neurology, are based on psychiatric interviews with 121 teenagers who suffered from various forms of chronic headache -- including chronic migraine, chronic tension headache and chronic headaches stemming from pain medication overuse. "

"Migraine headaches cause intense, throbbing pain, along with sensitivity to light and sound, and nausea in many cases. A minority of migraine sufferers also experience an aura -- visual disturbances or other bodily sensations that precede the migraine attack. "

"Chronic migraine is diagnosed when the attacks happen at least 15 days out of every month. "

"In their study, Wang's team found that nearly half of all the 12- to 14-year-old headache sufferers they interviewed had at least one psychiatric disorder. That rate is far higher than what's seen among Taiwanese teenagers in general, they note. "

"Teens with chronic migraine were particularly at risk, showing higher rates of depression and anxiety disorders -- including panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder -- than their peers with other forms of chronic headache. "

"Suicidal thoughts and behaviors were also unusually common in the study group as a whole, with 20 percent showing a high risk of suicide. But teenagers who suffered migraine with aura were especially at risk. "

"Of these 14 teens, half showed a high risk of suicide based on a standard questionnaire, versus 21 percent of their peers who suffered migraines without aura, and 7.5 percent of those without
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