Migraines are often undiagnosed in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities or autism who are non-verbal, according to Dr Sally Cheseldine, a retired consultant clinical psychologist. She observed this during her clinical career, noting that these individuals were unable to articulate having a sore head.
Instead, a high level of damaging head-banging was present. Dr Cheseldine highlighted that others who experience migraines and lack rapid pain relief report feeling tempted to engage in similar behaviour.
Dr Cheseldine also suggested that migraines are completely undiagnosed in a significant part of the population due to a “diagnostic overshadowing” effect from other labels, leading to harmful consequences.