Headache and mental health
The link between headaches and mental health
Vassiliki Dimitrakopoulou
Emotional instability is very common during adolescence. Teenage girls have sudden mood changes, feel sick or suffer from headaches.
Do you suffer from headaches that aren’t a result of some illness? Are you trying to figure out if they’re due to psychological causes?
At some point in life you may experience what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance”. This happens when your internal desires are in conflict with your principles. Thus, you feel you should live according to other people’s beliefs or never disappoint or hurt anyone. Sometimes this emotional stress triggers frequent headaches.
For example, if you and your parents disagree about your studies or your profession, this is a cognitive dissonance for your internal world.
Also, similar emotional situations are when your friends or your boyfriend press you to do something against your will.
All people are part of your life, otherwise there wouldn’t be any relations of love and trust. However, each one of us is unique. So sometimes we must learn to say “no”. Someone may be disappointed when you say “no”, but disappointment is a human feeling.
When we say clearly “no”, we make a way for an honest “yes”.
This way you learn how to be yourself and not spend your whole life trying to please others.
Vassiliki DimitrakopoulouPsychologist, Scientific Associate of the Greek Society of Adolescent Medicine
