Chronic Migraine Impacts Individuals, Families, and Society
The burden of chronic migraine affects us all.
Posted June 24, 2025 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
Last weekend, my friend and colleague Dr. Dawn Buse received the John R. Graham Award from the American Headache Society, given to a person with international leadership in research and education in headache medicine. Much has been said about the wonderful human being Dr. Buse is, and how she has improved the lives of every patient and provider who has been privileged to know her. However, I wanted to use this opportunity to focus on her science. Dr. Buse has had an outsized impact on our field because she asked such an important question: What does it actually look like to live with chronic migraine ?
How bad is chronic migraine? Pretty bad.
Chronic migraine is when people with migraine disease have headaches and other disabling symptoms on more than half of the days of the month. If you do not have chronic migraine, close your eyes for a minute and imagine: What would it be like, waking up and knowing that most likely, today you will experience severe head pain, light is so painful you have to wear sunglasses even inside, and you will be so nauseated you may not be able to function.
How would that impact your functioning? Your mood? Your relationships?
Dr. Buse has spent a career documenting what it looks like to live in this reality. Her work with the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study showed that about 1% of the United States population has chronic migraine.
Her research with the Chronic Migraine Epidemiology and Outcomes Study showed that chronic migraine was associated with considerable burden on families . People with chronic migraine felt their logistic, emotional, and financial support of their families all suffered because of their migraine disease. Importantly, although family members also saw the impact of migraine, they didn’t notice it nearly as much as the person living with chronic migraine did. I will never forget the meeting where Dr. Buse and I (both pregnant at the time) shared the finding that 9.5% of people with chronic migraine reported not having children, delaying having children, or having fewer children than they wanted because of migraine disease.
This is the most heartbreaking finding about chronic migraine I have ever heard, and highlights the extraordinary burden of this disease that peaks during childbearing years.
Who might develop chronic migraine?
Dr. Buse has documented many of the factors that seem to lead people with more typical, less frequent migraine attacks to experience the transition to chronic migraine. Much of her work has shown that decisions doctors make early on in migraine treatment matter. Taking a preventive treatment (a treatment you take every day, month, or every couple of months to reduce how often you have migraine attacks) is a potent tool to prevent chronic migraine. On the other hand, taking acute medications (medications taken to treat the migraine attack itself, like prescription tripans or over-the-counter pain medications) too often is a recipe for migraine becoming chronic. Another particularly potent predictor of chronic migraine is depression, which occurs about twice as often in people with migraine. If you are having migraine attacks on four or more days per months, or you have depression in addition to migraine, it is so important to find a doctor who is willing and excited to work with you to reduce how often you have migraine attacks, not just treat the attacks when they happen.
How do we get others to care about chronic migraine?
Dr. Buse has consistently documented the impact chronic migraine has on society at large. Her research has shown that poorly managed migraine costs both employers and healthcare systems . Forcing people with migraine to work through the attacks does not recoup these costs; it actually costs companies even more through “presenteeism,” or being at work while not being able to fully function. It is better to have employees with migraine treat their symptoms effectively; her work has shown increased productivity among workers with migraine who are given the opportunity to treat migraine attacks in the moment with effective treatments.
If there is one thing I have learned from Dr. Buse, it is this: People with chronic migraine need others in their lives, families, and workplaces, to advocate for them. If you or someone you love has chronic migraine, consider getting involved in headache disorder advocacy . Together, we can improve the lives of people with chronic migraine, thereby improving our society as a whole.
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Elizabeth Seng, Ph.D. , is an Associate Professor of Psychology, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.