Сlinical-psychological and psycholphysiological characteristics of tension headache in people affected by radiation exposure

Abstract

One of the main clinical manifestations of radiation exposure in the early and later periods is headache. Until present time there is no clear understanding of the mechanisms of headache development under radiation exposure. The theories that exist (more than 30) do not give a comprehensive answer to these questions. Out of all primary headaches, tension headache is diagnosed more often. Emotional factors including psychological stress is the major cause of its development. In the current paper the findings of the in-depth clinical examination of 92 people are presented. Clinical characteristics of three groups that of exposed people with tension headache, unexposed people with tension headache, exposed people without tension headache are described. Nosological and clinical forms of headaches in exposed people are investigated, psychological (accentuation on personality traits, state anxiety, depression), psychophysiological characteristics of the examined people, and clinical manifestations of the tension headache are studied.

Keywords

• ionizing radiation
• techa river
• mental health
• stress
• tension headache