Psychological treatments reduced headache days in pooled trials
Pooled trials found fewer monthly headache days with psychological treatments. A separate analysis found that headache intensity results differed between psychological approaches.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The pooled trials suggest that psychological interventions reduce monthly headache frequency in people with tension-type headache, with moderate-quality evidence for this main outcome. Treatment response and headache intensity also favored the interventions. Differences between psychological approaches were reported specifically for headache intensity; the abstract does not establish which approach works best or how long improvements last.
The abstract does not describe the individual treatments, control conditions or follow-up durations. Substantial variation in headache intensity results limits how confidently the pooled intensity result can describe a particular psychological approach.
What researchers found
Mean difference in monthly headache days
Psychological interventions versus controls in 5 studies; 95% confidence interval: -5.52 to -3.54. Follow-up duration was not reported in the abstract.
What the review measured
The review focused on how often headaches occurred, while also examining headache intensity and treatment response. The central pooled result was fewer headache days per month compared with control conditions.
Where results differed
Results for headache intensity varied substantially across studies. A separate subgroup analysis also found differences between psychological approaches for that endpoint. The abstract does not report comparable analyses comparing approaches for headache days or treatment response.
The original publication
Efficacy of psychological treatment for tension-type headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Yuan L, Pantila K, Niu XY et al.
J Headache Pain · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41315905
- Record checked
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