Patients suffering from chronic pain are known to exhibit distinctive personality traits and impaired neuropsychological performance across various cognitive domains. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive evidence regarding cognitive and behavioral functioning patterns in patients with trigeminal neuralgia. In this study, we aimed to thoroughly characterize a range of psychological and neuropsychological variables in a sample of 80 patients and 34 healthy controls, and to assess their relationship with pain intensity and duration. Our findings revealed that patients with trigeminal pain scored significantly higher on measures of anxiety, depression, perceived stress, alexithymia, pain catastrophizing, harm avoidance and lower on Self-transcendence subscale compared to healthy controls. Additionally, these patients demonstrated lower performance scores on tasks assessing working memory and verbal fluency. These findings may provide valuable insights for the development of personalized treatment plans for patients with trigeminal neuralgia, specifically targeting their unique personality traits and cognitive impairments.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics approval for the research protocol was given by local ethic committee of Federal Center of Neurosurgery dated 25.05.2021 (protocol # 7).

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors