Controversies in Management: Psychological treatment is essential for some

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Role of stress Secondly, two thirds of patients with the irritable bowel syndrome have experienced a severe social stress such as bereavement, marital separation, or major argument leading to a broken family relationship before the onset of the abdominal symptoms. This compares with about a quarter of patients with organic disease and healthy controls.6 The pattern of social stress before the onset of the irritable bowel syndrome is similar to that preceding deliberate self harm, where precipitating stress is well recognised. Even in patients with no overt anxiety or depression, onset of the irritable bowel syndrome is still preceded by stressful life events. Not all studies have confirmed this result, but these negative studies have measured life events before attending a clinic rather than before the onset of symptoms and have often used inadequate measures of life events.