Contact: Brenda B. Toner, PhD
(416) 979-4271
brenda_toner@camh.net

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Linked With Emotional Abuse

A new study has investigated the association between women's experience of emotional abuse and the digestive disorder known as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

The symptoms of IBS, which include abdominal pain and bloating, don't appear to result from known structural or biochemical abnormalities. As such, IBS is known as a functional disorder. Functional disorders are more common among women, and have been associated with a history of sexual abuse.

"Despite some evidence linking physical abuse and sexual abuse to IBS, few studies have examined the association between emotional abuse and IBS," said lead author, Alisha Ali, PhD.

The researchers from the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, enlisted 25 women with IBS to complete a standardized questionnaire measuring emotional abuse, which involves psychological mistreatment and nonphysical aggression.

The researchers also tested for the presence of two psycho-social factors that may play a role: self-silencing and self-blame.

Individuals who practice self-silencing attempt to maintain security in relationships by silencing certain thoughts, feelings, and actions. Such behavior can lead to complete denigration of beliefs and eventual self-negation. Those who engage in self-blame tend to criticize themselves and take on the burden of responsibility for negative events.

A comparison group of 25 women suffering from a different digestive disorder, known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), also completed the questionnaire. IBD, which consists mainly of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is not a functional disorder.

Study participants with IBS scored significantly higher on measures of emotional abuse, as well as self-blame and self-silencing, than the women in the comparison group, the researchers found. Their findings appear in the January/February 2000 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

"The self-blaming and self-silencing behaviors that tended to be associated with emotional abuse in this study probably cause stress increases," said Brenda B. Toner, PhD, study co-author. Stress is known to exacerbate IBS symptoms.

"Future investigations should further examine this relationship to develop a more comprehensive conceptualization of the interplay between trauma and stress in the experience of irritable bowel syndrome," said Ali.

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Psychosomatic Medicine is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, published bimonthly. For information about the journal, contact Joel E. Dimsdale, MD, at (619) 543-5468.