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Department of Psychology

Constipation and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Psychological factors


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About the Study

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Frequently Asked Questions

About Our People


About the Study

In a nutshell, I am studying the connection between personality factors, beliefs about illness and FGID symptoms.  I am also interested to find out how personality factors and beliefs about illness affect the daily functioning of those who suffer from FGIDs.  It is my hope that by studying the links and patterns between these psychological factors and FGIDs, we could find out how psychological techniques could be used to enhance and support existing medical treatments for FGIDs.

More information about FGIDs and this study [link]

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Our People

Wee Chong Tan
I am currently studying for my Doctor of Clinical Psychology Degree at the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University.  I am a provisionally registered psychologist in New South Wales (PS0134609).  My research interests focus on the application of psychological knowledge and interventions on health-related problems, specifically on gastro-intestinal problems that have no known medical cause (these are known as Functional Gastro-intestinal Disorders or FGIDs).  FGIDs include problems like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Functional Constipation, Functional Dyspepsia and so forth.

My interest in FGIDs is both professional and personal.  Professionally, I am keen to find out what makes FGIDs work and what we could do as psychologists to help, in conjunction with the advances in medical practices in the field.  Personally, I have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome since 2002 and am hoping that my research could help me understand my own condition better.

Dr Andrew Baillie

Dr Baillie is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University.  He is also the Director of Postgraduate Clinical Training.  Dr Baillie is a practicing clinical psychologist who is registered as a psychologist in New South Wales (PS0007625) and am a member of the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society.  He has an honorary appointment as a clinical psychologist in the Drug Health Services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.  Dr Baillie’s research interests include psychological studies of alcohol dependence behaviours, and health psychology related topics.

Associate Professor Michael Jones
A/Prof Jones is a research psychologist with the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University.  He has extensive experience conducting psychological research.  His areas of research interest include studying the connections between physical and mental health, psychometrics, meta-analysis and and general epidemiological research.  In particular, A/Prof Jones collaborates extensively with Professor Nicholas Talley, (University of Newcastle and John Hunter Hospital) and other international experts and has published extensively in this area, as well as in studies examining psychological aspects of disease.
 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What are “personality factors”?

A1: Personality refers to how we generally think, feel and behave across a broad range of situations.  Each person has a different way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes him or her unique.  Personality is believed to be generally fixed or at least hard to change.  Psychologists often refer to personality in terms of different traits (e.g., how outgoing you are, how emotional you are).  Everyone has a different pattern of traits that make up their overall personality.  As with all things in life, personality traits can be helpful or unhelpful.

For example, research has found that people who tend to be overly prone to experience mood swings and negative moods affect their mental and physical health, not least, you guessed it, their gastro-intestinal symptoms.

On the other hand, there is now emerging research studying how helpful personality traits can counteract the negative impact of unhelpful personality traits, and even enhance our mental and physical wellbeing.  For example, there is exciting research showing that a natural tendency to stay in the moment and be non-judgmental protects against mental illness and is linked to better quality of live. (Dr Barbara Fredrickson from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill does very exciting research on positive mood and traits.  For more information, click on this link http://www.positivityratio.com/author.php)

Q2. What do you mean by “Beliefs about illness”?

A2: As thinking beings, we are always looking for explanations to help us make sense of events around us.  The very same thing applies when we try to make sense of our physical health and disease.  We all have theories about why we fall ill, how we can get cured, how bad our illness is and so forth, based on our own experience and the way we see the world in general.

Recent research have found that these theories or beliefs about illness impact how well we recover from illness and how effectively we use medical care.  I am interested to find out which particular beliefs are helpful to FGIDs and which are less helpful.

Q3. How do I know if I’ve got Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)?

A3:  You can’t know for sure by yourself.  It isn’t as easy as detecting, say, fever.  You really need to see a specialist (a gastro-enterologist) who is trained in testing and diagnosing you.  You need to undergo different tests to confirm that what you have is IBS. 

However, there are a few signs that indicate that you might have IBS.  These include:

  • Pain or discomfort in the gut that is relieved by going to the bathroom
  • Loose stools and frequent bowel movements, or hard stools and less frequent bowel movements
  • Bloating of the gut
  • Feeling as if the bowel is not emptied even after having gone to the bathroom 
  • Feeling an urgent need to move your bowels frequently
  • Have abnormal bowel movement frequencies (many times a day or rarely in a week)

For the past 3 months or longer.  If you do have these symptoms, we strongly recommend that you visit your family physician and ask for a referral for a medical check-up.  Severe IBS, although not life threatening, is painful and very debilitating.  It can take the joy out of life.

Q4. How do I know if I’ve got Functional Constipation (FC)?  What’s the difference between FC and normal constipation by the way?

A4:  Functional Constipation refers to a person’s difficulties in moving their bowels and these difficulties do not have any organic causes (e.g., not due to changes in hormonal levels, surgery to the intestines, not due solely to dietary changes).  Normal constipation can usually be explained medically, or by a lifestyle change (e.g., not taking enough fibre in your meals).  FC can’t.  FC also usually lasts for a long time, with some people suffering with it for years.  It includes symptoms such as:

  • Straining during bowel movements
  • Sensations that  bowel movements are incomplete
  • Sensation of blockage in the lower bowels
  • Less than 3 bowel movements in a week 

These symptoms last for 3 months or longer.

While we do not claim to be able to cure IBS or FC, we hope to be able to find out how to improve IBS and FC symptoms and more importantly, how to help those who suffer from IBS or FC cope with these symptoms, so that they could improve their quality of life.

Q5.  Are you sure psychology can help a physical condition?

A5: We are still finding out what psychological interventions can and cannot do.  We know definitely that it cannot replace medical treatments.  However, our fellow psychologists have found out that psychological interventions can improve physical symptoms.

For instance, many research studies have found that cognitive therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy, gut-focused hypnotherapy, relaxation training and now mindfulness training (all psychological techniques) improve IBS symptoms.  These same interventions have also been found to help chronic back pain, migraine headaches and other chronic physical disorders that sap the joy from life.

Q6. If psychological interventions help my IBS or FC, does this mean that it is a psychological disorder and I have a mental disorder?

A6: Not really.  IBS and FC are not well understood conditions that are influenced very strongly by physical/ medical conditions, lifestyle and psychological processes. They are interesting disorders in that they are not purely medical, nor are they purely psychological.

However, it is fair to say that some of those who suffer from long term IBS or FC have been found to suffer from anxiety or depression.  These conditions definitely make the IBS or FC symptoms worst, so treating them could improve the IBS or FC symptoms.

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Wee-Chong Tan email address28 October 2010

 

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