Features of eating disorders in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Predictive value of alexithymia in patients with eating disorders: A 3-year prospective study

“…Our results are close to those carried out with patients presenting functional somatic symptoms [4,26], which share many features with eating disorders [4,27]. Bach and Bach [26] observed that alexithymia slightly predicted the persistency of functional somatizations 2 years later, independently of depressive symptoms.…”

Eating disorders and irritable bowel syndrome: is there a link?

“…These symptoms, known as the Manning criteria for defining IBS, include the following: visible abdominal distension, pain relief with bowel action, more frequent stools with the onset of pain, looser stools with the onset of pain, passage of mucous and feeling of incomplete evacuation. Although no consensus concerning the aetiology of IBS has emerged [12], psychological factors do appear to play an important role in the development and maintenance of the syndrome [13,14].…”

“…Women are overly represented in IBS [8] and ED populations [15]. In addition, these two conditions have a high prevalence of physical and sexual abuse [12]. Finally, the individuals with these conditions tend to have personality characteristics of perfectionism, negative self-evaluation, self-blame and feelings of ineffectiveness [16 -20].…”

“…Another study that used the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI; [23]) to compare IBS sufferers and normal controls, whilst failing to find a link between a diagnosis of IBS and the body dissatisfaction, perfectionism and ineffectiveness subscales, did, however, identify that the drive to lose weight was underlying vomiting and bulimic tendencies in IBS patients, just as it was for those with an ED [12].…”

Irritable bowel syndrome

“…Some data suggest that up to 90% of treatment-seeking patients with IBS have an DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis [32], the majority of which include panic disorder [25,33,34], social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder [28], post-traumatic stress disorder [35], and depressive disorders [25,36]. Features of eating disorders have also been observed in persons with IBS [37].…”