In the detailed and otherwise comprehensive CME article on inflammatory bowel diseases by Wehkamp et al., the psychosomatic aspect is unfortunately completely missing (1). This is despite numerous studies that show there is a correlation between disease severity, and perhaps also incidence or recurrence, with measured values of depression and anxiety (2– 4).
Psychosomatic therapies should therefore be integrated into a holistic therapy concept, if only because good psychosocial treatment during every serious and chronic illness can favorably affect the patients’ quality of life.
Although this evidence mainly comes from pediatric studies, the conclusion of Levine et al. (3) still seems relevant: “Even if somatic-affective symptoms stem from inflammation, referral to psychotherapy can improve symptoms more rapidly”.
Footnotes
Conflict of interest statement
The author declares that no conflict of interest exists.
References
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