Everyone faces stress from time to time, but people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have more than their fair share.
On top of the typical life stressors, people with IBDs like ulcerative colitis must deal with debilitating symptoms and navigate a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability around flares, treatments, and related illnesses. “This impacts many aspects of life,” says Christina Gentile, PsyD, a board-certified clinical health psychologist who specializes in digestive diseases at UCLA Health.
That’s one reason that people with IBD are also at greater risk for anxiety and depression. And that, in turn, can make it harder for them to manage their condition and physically cope with the disease by, say, exercising, eating a healthy diet, or meditating.
“It’s this really complicated issue where IBD symptoms are causing stress and making it harder for you to do the things that are also protective against stress,” says Stephen Lupe, PsyD, the director of behavioral medicine in the department of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
In other words, anxiety and stress can trigger — or aggravate — inflammation and colitis, and vice versa, says Berkeley Limketkai, MD, a gastroenterologist and the director of IBD clinical research at the UCLA Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
In short, if you’re feeling stressed by ulcerative colitis, you’re certainly not alone. But it’s important to understand how much stress and feelings of depression or anxiety may be affecting your daily life. Answer the following questions to help you determine whether your coping skills are working or if you need help rethinking your stress-management strategy.
