Emotional Schemas of Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and their Relationship to Psychological Symptoms

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID). Most individuals with this disease have problems in expressing their feelings. Negative emotions and specific cognitive attitudestoward life can contribute to the development of depression and worsening of symptoms. This research aimed to compare the emotional schemas of patients with IBS with that of a control group and to investigate the relationship between psychological symptoms and emotional schemas.

The present causal-comparative research was performed on 98 patients with IBS referred to a gastroenterologist in Isfahan, Iran, in the winter of 2016. In addition, the 97 participants in the control group were selected from among caregivers and university staff through convenience sampling method. The data collection tools consisted of the ROME-III scale, structured clinical interview for DSM-IV(SCID-I), Persian version of the Emotional Schemas Questionnaire (ESS-P)‎,and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21). The data were analyzed in SPSS software.

The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the patients with IBS and control groups in terms of all schemas (P ≤ 0.05), except emotional schemas of trying to be rational and being comprehensible (P > 0.05). Moreover, the results indicated that some emotional schemas were related to psychological symptoms (P ≤ 0.05).

According to the findings, it seems that it is necessary to instruct individuals with IBS regarding emotional schemas. Increased awareness of emotional schemas will result in the acceptance of undesirable emotions as a part of the complex human nature, and thus, less experience of anxiety, depression, and stress.