Many studies have showed that some individuals failing in demonstrating their mental conflicts may express them bodily, through psychosomatic symptoms. It has also been investigated how situations of stress, anxiety and depression contribute to the formation process and evolution of some diseases, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease. This research gathered thirty patients with Ulcerative Retocolitis and Crohn's Disease, who were submitted to three psychological tests: the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Lipp Stress Symptom Inventory. Afterwards, nine of them were chosen to perform a brief psychotherapy work group. The tests revealed that the emotional condition although not the main responsible, may aggravate the pathology by affecting one's body and mental defenses. The psychotherapy work displayed emotional conditions until recently unnoticed; though present in life, symptomatically manifested by somatizations.
Emotional conflicts; gastroenterological dysfunctions; psychoanalysis