Assessment of psychiatric diagnosis, alexithymia, temperament and character of patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Abstract

Objective: It is well documented that there is a strong relationship with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and stress. Indeed IBS is a psychosomatic disease of gastrointestinal system. In this study it is aimed to determine the anxiety and alexithymia levels and their association with temperament, and personality in both patient and healthy control groups. Method: Thirty-four patients with IBS according to Roma II Diagnostic Criteria and 32 healthy volunteers were included in the study. Patients with IBS and the healthy subjects were evaluated by DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), State and Trait Anxiety Inventory-II (STAI-II) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-26 (TAS-26) have been applied. Results: Mean age of patients with IBS was 36.41±8.5 and average period of the illness was 6.65±5.8 years. 76.5% of IBS patients had at least one DSM-IV diagnoses. In IBS patient group, mean STAI-II score were significantly higher than the control group (p=0.001 and p=0.007, respectively). Among TCI subscales harm avoidance (HA) and self-transcendence (ST) mean score were significantly higher in IBS patient group than healthy controls (p=0.023 and p=0.039, respectively). The result of backward condition logistic regression analysis of total HA and total ST points in the sixth step were found to be a significant predictors of IBS's existence (in the sixth step it was found that 2 log likelihood: 80.615 and R 2=0.181). Conclusion: With respect to these psychiatric disorders or temperamental and characteristic properties they can have a role in occurrence and exacerbation of IBS.