Psychological approach to managing irritable bowel syndrome

“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.” Hippocrates

The medical management of patients with irritable bowel syndrome is often unsatisfactory. Doctors are still taught that irritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion, and patients readily sense that they are being told that nothing is really wrong with them. Many people soon come to appreciate that the range of medical treatments available is limited in both scope and efficacy. The mood of negativity, once established, is difficult to dispel.

Current medical treatment includes drugs that alter intestinal motility—such as antispasmodics, 5-hydroxytryptamine antagonists, antidiarrhoeals, and laxatives—and dietary changes, including fibre supplementation and identification of food intolerances.1 Response may vary, but the failure rate of these “physical” treatments is high, which may lead to the conclusion that irritable bowel syndrome has a strong psychological component. A diagnosis of exclusion has been made—again with negative, rather than positive therapeutic, connotations.

Although many doctors are aware that antidepressants have been used in irritable bowel syndrome, they seem reluctant to prescribe such agents, not least because suggesting this as a valid option to patients who are clearly not depressed …