Bowel Distress and Emotional Conflict

A psychodynamic assessment of 60 women with functional bowel disorder seen at St Mark's, a specialist hospital for disorders of the colon and rectum, has shown that most were trapped in severe emotional conflicts with which they were unable to cope. In many the bodily illnesses appeared to be an expression of these conflicts as well as a defence against experiencing them. The illnesses were then partly, or entirely, emotional conflicts that had become medicalized-emotional conflicts in illnesses clothing. The illnesses, usually precipitated by significant life events, often had their roots in emotional conflicts in infancy or childhood at which time a high proportion of the women had experienced a severe life trauma. The study also indicated that the conflicts that appeared to contribute to the illnesses were associated with emotional difficulties in fulfilling themselves as women.