Helmes, E. (2012) Dimensions of affective distress in people with irritable bowel syndrome. In: Combined Abstracts of 2012 Australian Psychology Conferences. p. 114. From: 47th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, 27-30 September 2012, Perth, WA, Australia.

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Abstract

Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) include abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. Diagnosis generally follows careful medical examination to exclude inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn's disease, which has the same set of signs and symptoms. Psychological distress is often associated with IBS, although causal relationships remain unclear. Along with changes to diet, psychological treatment of IBS has been reported effective. Here I report on aspects of psychological distress in 91 people (76 female) with IBS, with a mean age of 39.7 years (SO = 14.01). Constipation (n = 28) and alternating constipation and diarrhea (n = 31) were the most common bowel elimination patterns. Most (n = 61) were married, with 18 single and the remainder divorced, widowed, or separated. Symptom duration was about 6.7 years (10% trimmed mean of 80.5 months) with symptom frequency a mean of 4.7 times per week (SO = 7.35, range 1 to 35). Participants completed an extensive battery of psychological tests. Results reported here include the facet scores of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for Anxiety, Somatization, Depression, and Aggression as well as the scales for Suicide and Stress, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), seven scales from the Illness Behaviour Inventory (IBQ; Denial, Disease Conviction, Affective Inhibition, Irritability, General Hypochondriasis, Psychological Perception of Illness, and Affective Disturbance), and Impulsivity, Anger, and Job Dissatisfaction scales from the Survey of Work Styles. These scores, together with symptom frequency and duration were subjected to a principal components analysis, followed by an Oblimin rotation. A scree test and parallel analysis both suggested retaining four components. The first loaded measures of anxiety and depression and was interpreted as Affective Distress. The second component loaded PAI Somatization and IBQ Disease Conviction, reflecting underlying Somatization. The third loaded PAI Aggression facets plus SWS Anger and Impulsivity scales. This was interpreted as Emotional Lability. The fourth component loaded PAI Suicide, Stress, Depression - Physiological and Cognitive facets, and HADS Depression, and was interpreted as Dysphoria. The results are interpreted in terms of current psychological treatments for IBS.

Item ID:	23948
Item Type:	Conference Item (Poster)
ISBN:	978-0-909881-00-9
Keywords:	irritable bowel syndrome; gut disorders
Date Deposited:	18 Jan 2013 00:56
FoR Codes:	17 PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES > 1701 Psychology > 170106 Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920401 Behaviour and Health @ 100%
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