Verhaltenspädiatrie chronischer Kopfschmerzen im Kindes- und Jugendalter: State of the art Behavioral pediatrics of chronic headaches in childhood and adolescence: State of the art

Pediatric headaches, namely migraine and tension type headache, belong to the most common health problems in children and adolescents. The behavioural medicine approach to chronic headache in childhood and adolescence is based on the etiopathogenesis and empirical research. The biobehavioral perspective has the concept of migraine as an information processing deficit disorder, characterized by a central hypersensitivity (informationprocessing dysfunction) and dishabituation. We assume that hereditary and psychosocial (parental education) mechanisms both play an important role in migraine. Behavioural medicine interventions are highly effective and encompass information-processing-training, stress-management training, relaxation training, pain-coping techniques and biofeedback treatment.