Chronic intestinal inflammation, stressed psyche
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis: Every third patient with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) develops anxiety or depression. This also significantly reduces the quality of life - and can make the disease worse.
A research team led by Brigida Barberio from the Padova University Hospital evaluated data from more than 30,000 patients from 77 examinations in a survey study. The result: 25 percent of the participants with inflammatory bowel disease also showed symptoms of depression and 32 percent symptoms of an anxiety disorder.
Women are more likely to develop mental symptoms
Participants with Crohn's disease were more often affected than ulcerative colitis patients. In addition, women developed anxiety more often than men (33.8 versus 22.8%) and were more often depressed (21.2 versus 15.4%).
Unsurprisingly, patients who were currently experiencing a flare-up of the disease were more likely to experience both anxiety and depression than those who were currently experiencing little or no symptoms.
Direct connection between the stomach and the brain
It has long been known that chronic inflammatory processes and mental disorders such as anxiety and depression are coupled with one another, and that in both directions: physical suffering affects mood; Stress and emotional stress can in turn fuel inflammatory processes.
In fact, the intestines and the brain are directly neural networked via the so-called abdominal-brain axis, via which they communicate. Added to this are the limited quality of life and the reduced opportunities to participate in social life, which burden patients with severe disease courses.
Seek help with psychological symptoms!
The researchers point out that treating physicians should ask their patients with inflammatory bowel disease specifically about possible anxiety disorders and depression. In this way, professional help can be arranged promptly if necessary. This not only benefits the patient's mind, but possibly also the course of the disease.
Of course, the patients themselves can also take action if they feel anxious, inhibited, depressed, or joyless. Such psychological symptoms are not a necessary consequence of the physical illness that one has to endure. You can actively do something about it.
Hundreds of thousands affected
Chronic intestinal inflammation is common. It is estimated that there are around 420,000 to 470,000 IBD patients in Germany. Those affected suffer from permanent inflammation in the digestive tract, which is caused by incorrect reactions of the immune system.
The intestinal diseases are associated with symptoms such as abdominal cramps, diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue. In many cases, IBD is easy. Especially in the case of severe courses that only respond poorly to therapy, they can also be extremely stressful - both physically and mentally.
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