Abstract This study was aimed at comparing the person- ality profile, the psychiatric comorbidity (depression and anxiety) and the tenderness of the pericranial and cervical muscles in women with chronic migraine (CM) and chron- ic tension-type headache (CTTH). Forty-one CM and 34 CTTH women were enrolled. A clinical evaluation (according to SCID-I) and a psychometric assessment (MMPI-2, STAI-1 and STAI-2) were performed. After pal- pation, a Pericranial muscle Tenderness Score (PTS) and a Cervical Muscle Tenderness Score (CTS) were calculated. No significant difference was detected in MMPI-2, STAI- 1, STAI-2, PTS and CTS scores between the two groups. Anxiety and depression were present in 80% of CM and in 63% of CTTH women. We did not find any significant dif- ference either in the personality profile or in the muscle tenderness between CM and CTTH patients. This similar- ity points to a role of these factors, in association with psy- chiatric comorbidity, in the chronicisation of headache. Key words Chronic headache • Migraine • Tension-type headache • Muscle tenderness • Personality profile • MMPI Introduction Chronic headaches are a diagnostic and therapeutic chal- lenge for the clinician. Both migraine and tension-type headache may evolve, over time, from an episodic presen- tation into a chronic clinical course, the headache occur- ring on ≥15 days per month, according to the International Headache Society (IHS) 2004 criteria [1]. The distinction between chronic migraine (CM) and chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) is based on exclu- sively clinical criteria, pertaining to quality, intensity, location and duration of pain, although these two clinical conditions show remarkable differences in pathophysio- logical mechanisms. As CM and CTTH are mostly regarded as complica- tions of the respective episodic forms, the question arises whether the chronicisation process is underlain by predis- posing factors related to the personality traits or to the sys- temic and psychiatric comorbidity along with known or unknown central mechanisms [2]. Personality profile has been extensively explored for a long time, by means of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), in patients suffering from both episodic and chronic headaches, above all migraine [3–5], but its role in affecting natural history of the disease remains controversial. Likewise, the association between headache and depres- sion or anxiety has been well documented for years [6–10]. In particular, previous studies have shown that subjects with anxiety and a combination of anxiety disorders and major depression are more likely to be affected by migraine [6, 9] and that the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders in women with migraine appears to be influential on the headache history in the long term, independently from the pain characteristics at the baseline [11]. Furthermore, a relationship has been demonstrated between depression, as well as anxiety, and muscle pain and tenderness; patients with depression and panic disorder showing more frequent and intense clinical pain complaints [12]. Neurol Sci (2005) 26:203–207 DOI 10.1007/s10072-005-0462-1 F. Mongini • E. Rota • A. Deregibus • F. Mura • A. Francia Germani • T. Mongini A comparative analysis of personality profile and muscle tenderness between chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache ORIGINAL Received: 21 May 2005 / Accepted in revised form: 3 August 2005 F. Mongini () • E. Rota • A. Deregibus • F. Mura • A. Francia Germani • T. Mongini Department of Clinical Pathophysiology Headache and Facial Pain Unit University of Turin Corso Dogliotti 14 I-10126 Turin, Italy e-mail: franco.mongini@unito.it