Psychological trauma can follow threatening or deeply distressing events. People respond in different ways.

PTSD can involve unwanted memories or nightmares, avoiding reminders, and feeling persistently on alert.

Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. Having migraine does not mean you have a trauma history.

Studies find that PTSD and migraine occur together more often than expected. PTSD may also add to headache-related disability.

A large study of women found associations in both directions: PTSD was linked with later migraine, and migraine with later PTSD.

These findings do not prove that one condition causes the other. Trauma exposure, PTSD and everyday stress are not interchangeable.

Researchers are exploring stress-response systems, autonomic activity and pain processing as possible connections.

Sleep difficulties, distress and the demands of managing both conditions may also affect daily wellbeing.

There is no single proven pathway. These ideas do not establish the cause of an individual person’s migraine.

Headache can also begin after a head or neck injury. This is different from the association between psychological trauma and migraine.

Post-traumatic headache can feel like migraine, but its diagnosis depends on the injury and timing.

A new headache after an injury needs medical assessment. Tell your clinician when the injury and symptoms occurred.

• Use your agreed migraine treatment plan.
• Choose comfortable light, sound and space.
• Reduce non-essential demands and allow rest.
• Ask for consent before touch or personal questions.

If grounding helps, try a neutral sound or a familiar object. Stop if it increases distress. Breath-focused exercises do not suit everyone.

You can ask for practical support without describing traumatic events.

A GP or headache clinician can assess migraine and discuss acute and preventive treatment.

For adults with PTSD, recommended therapies include trauma-focused CBT and EMDR, depending on circumstances and preferences.

Treating PTSD may improve wellbeing and coping. It is not a guaranteed cure for migraine. Migraine care should continue alongside it.

Ask for clear explanations, sensory adjustments, breaks and shared decisions about pace. Tell your clinician about medicine sensitivities and other health conditions.

This connection mainly involves Pain / Bodily Sensitivity and Mood / Mental Health. Autonomic arousal, sensory demands and sleep may also matter.

Support should fit your capacity. A quieter environment or practical help may be more manageable than another exercise.

This Scottish guide is not crisis care. Local services differ. Pause if the material feels too much.

• The association between PTSD and migraine — systematic review (2026).
• Migraine and PTSD — bidirectional analysis in Nurses’ Health Study II.
• Posttraumatic stress disorder in migraine — headache-related disability study.
• PTSD and migraine — epidemiology and possible mechanisms.
• NICE — PTSD treatment recommendations.

Call 000 in Australia for a sudden extremely severe headache, new weakness, difficulty speaking, confusion or another medical emergency.

Seek urgent medical assessment for a new severe headache after head injury, or headache with fever and a stiff neck.

Lifeline: 13 11 14 for crisis support.

1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732 for support with domestic, family or sexual violence.

If life is in immediate danger, call 000.