Personality traits and emotional patterns in irritable bowel syndrome

The review focuses on those personality traits(neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), constructs(alexithymia and distressed- Type D personality) and emotional patterns(negative and positive) that are of particular concern in health psychology, with the aim to highlight their potential role on the pathogenesis, onset, symptom clusters, clinical course, and outcome of irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). Personality traits and emotional patterns play key roles in affecting autonomic, immune, inflammatory, and endocrine functions, thus contributing not only to IBS clinical expression and symptomatic burden, but also to disease physiopathology. In this sense, psychological treatments should address those personality traits and emotional features that are constitutive of, and integral to IBS. The biopsychosocial model of illness applied to IBS acknowledges the interaction between biological, psychological, environmental, and social factors in relation to pain and functional disability. A holistic approach to IBS should take into account the heterogeneous nature of the disorder, and differentiate treatments for different types of IBS, also considering the marked individual differences in prevalent personality traits and emotional patterns. Beyond medications, and lifestyle/dietary interventions, psychological and educational treatments may provide the optimal chance of addressing clinical symptoms, comorbid conditions, and quality of life in IBS patients.

Self-worth and psychological adjustment of obese children:An analysis through the Draw-A-Person

AIM To investigate psychopathological correlates of child obesity via the Draw-A-Person test(DAP).METHODS The participants were 50 children with a mean age of 9.74 years.Body mass index(BMI) was used as a measure of body fat.Children were divided into normal(n = 17),overweight(n = 14) and obese(n = 19).Two qualitative methods of scoring the DAP based on an integrative approach were used to assess self-concept(ESW) and overall level of children's adjustment(EAC).A procedure for judging interpretative skills of clinicians was implemented before they evaluated children's drawings.RESULTS As predicted by our hypothesis,BMI was negatively correlated with ESW,r(50) =-0.29,P < 0.05,but not with EAC,r(50) =-0.08,P = ns.To evaluate the effect of gender,Pearson correlations were re-computedregrouping the sample accordingly:BMI and EAC reached a significant negative correlation in female subjects,r(24) =-0.36,P < 0.05,and a positive correlation in male subjects,r(26) = 0.37,P = < 0.05;negative correlation between BMI and ESW became stronger in females,r(24) =-0.51,P < 0.01 but not in males,whose correlation disappeared resulting not-significant,r(26) =-0.06,P = ns.No effect of age was found.Results indicate that obesity has a negative correlation exclusively on overall adjustment and self-concept in female children.CONCLUSION It was concluded that there is a negative bias toward females that reveals how the stigma of obesity is widespread in Western society.