Psychoneurotic symptomatology in the irritable bowel syndrome: a study of reporters and non-reporters.

Abstract

An appreciable proportion of the general population have the irritable bowel syndrome but do not report it. Results of psychological assessments showed that outpatients with the syndrome and non-reporters of it were psychologically similar, but both groups showed more somatic distress than normal controls. Anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsion, and interpersonal sensitivity were similar in both groups with the syndrome and the normal controls. The preponderance of women referred to outpatient clinics may reflect sociological factors rather than the severity of the irritable bowel syndrome.