Colitis personality?

Does this phrase resonate with anyone? When I acquired this illness at the age of 11, then exactly one year later at 12 (September, first month of school both times), nobody could figure it out until the second time it flared, and the diagnosis was reached after a colonoscopy. Before that, all kinds of theories were bandied about, e.g. 'viral hepatitis' etc. They took endless blood samples. Finally they sent me to a shrink, which didn't help either.

Just out of curiosity, some decades ago, I looked up colitis in a book called The Body Mind connection, and it described me to a T. Can't find the book now, but I googled the phrase and found a study that again, nailed it, about 98%. Scary:

"In a study made by a group of doctors under the direction of Dr. Mahoney, and reported in the Journal of Gastroenterology, the conclusion reached was that the patients with ulcerative colitis are, in nearly half the cases, complex neurotics. Still further, it was observed that the cause of their neurosis was some great disturbance in their parent-child relationship, or some other harmful psychological experience in youth. The result of this phase of their youth was a poverty of their inner life. Some of the outstanding indications of this were constant feelings of tension, inability to assert oneself, abnormal sensitivity or hostility, pronounced indecision and feelings of dependency, or a feeling of anxiety or guilt.

Perhaps immaturity in the mental sense would sum up these symptoms. In this study, it was noted that none of the patients was the oldest child in the family, and nearly half were the youngest or only child. Ulcerative colitis patients appear to be unable to meet everyday problems and seem to be unable to assert themselves as other people can. They often have no absorbing interests, no hobbies, apparently no clear objective in life."

http://colitisiq.com/psychosomatic-nervous-breakdown/

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Thoughts?

quackery maybe. I'm like the posterchild for the opposite of every conclusion came to in that article so in my opinon it sounds completely absurd. If it were caused by some compulsiary thoughts from childhood or childhood stress etc... people get over that stuff and it wouldn't makes sense for those people to still be having symptoms, and not everyone with colitis has a rocky childhood. Some families have multiple children who all would experience the same childhood incidences, and although all children may not have the same sensitivities I would think the occurence of siblings with colitis would be much higher if this were true.

Judy2 said...
This is outdated thinking. Forty years ago, doctors were taught that UC was a neurotic disease, and that people who got it were meticulous, anxious people. We've learned a bit since then, and know that it, like many other diseases, is a physical problem and not a mental weakness.

.....

As a rebuttal, I invite you to view the numbers of us who have successful lives and careers, who supervise people or run businesses. This theory has been soundly debunked, and needs to be given a decent burial.

Unfortunately I blended the summary of the Drs' report with the blogger's commentary on it. I don't think there is anything in the physicians' report that requires rebuttal. No theory has been advanced, just a statement that there is a statistical correlation, not a causal correlation, between UC and "complex neurotics".

It would be absurd for the MD's to imply a causal correlation. After all. it may well be that complex neurotics are more likely to participate in this sort of survey, thus skewing the numbers.

The docs' report report refers to "nearly half" of the survey population, so there are going to be many tens of millions of UC patients to whom it does not apply. Interestingly, one poster ITT says that the findings are so broad-based as to be applicable to pretty well anybody, while another says his personality is 180 degrees opposite to what was reported. Plenty of room for variation.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have included the blogger's personal opinion, this part:

"Perhaps immaturity in the mental sense would sum up these symptoms. In this study, it was noted that none of the patients was the oldest child in the family, and nearly half were the youngest or only child. Ulcerative colitis patients appear to be unable to meet everyday problems and seem to be unable to assert themselves as other people can. They often have no absorbing interests, no hobbies, apparently no clear objective in life."

Nowhere do the doctors offer this sort of subjective judgment. They just present some numbers, basically.

Unfortunately the blogger doesn't seem to have provided a link to the report, and proffers this disclaimer:

"Disclaimer

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Btw, I've had an interesting and enjoyable life, despite having begun by living as a young neurotic in a weird family. I've done pretty well, except for the part bout having colitis

I am a new member, and just had to reply to this topic. I certainly believe that in MY case, much of what is written holds true.

My mom died when I was in elementary school, and I am an only child. I have suffered fairly severe anxiety issues ever since, and my intestinal issues continue to be affected by my stress level...which is usually off the charts.

I have finally decided to seek therapy as my daily bathroom issues and anxiety are seriously messing up my family's life, too. I honestly believe that if my childhood trauma hadn't occurred, or if it was handled differently, that I would have a totally different life. And...just maybe, no UC either.

Autoimmune diseases are considered stress-related diseases.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm

Yes. It is true many people are genetically predisposed to UC. However, stress does play a part. That's why it's important to try reduce one's stress.

Hmmm, well, I'm the exact opposite of the article.  I'm an oldest child, have hobbies, am a problem solver and pretty much say what I think.

BUT...I can see how in some cases that the article would make sense, some people do have emotions related to stress related to gut issues.  But I don't know that it causes the disease, it would just aggravate it.

And I have 3 family members with this disease so I"m thinking that's why I have it.

It is my fault I have IBD; so I don't mind being blamed for my illness. However, there are many who are very predisposed to UC. So just because it's my fault I have IBD does not mean it is your fault you have IBD.

subdued-

how is it your fault that you have uc?  ????

What's neurotic mean?

Some of those "symptoms" I have- I was a shy child, often cranky about something or other, dependent on my parents for almost everything, and I have quite a few things in my past that still cause me anxiety and guilt. I'm still a dependent person, though I can do things for myself. But I'm the oldest in my family, and that's probably part of why I'm stressed a lot. I worry about them. I actually have a tendency to worry more about my family than I do myself. I have many hobbies and absorbing interests-I like to sew, I collect dolls, I do needlepoint/embroidery, crochet, read, write, stuff like that. As for having a clear objective in life, I want to be a writer or an IT/web designer.

subdued said...

i_love_coffee said...
subdued-

how is it your fault that you have uc? ????

Because I'm not predisposed to IBD. On the contrary, everyone in my family has great digestive systems. I was the only one who abused antibiotics--all because of acne. I abused them for years and years and years. The rest of the females in my family took the pill, and that resolved their acne but gave them blood clots. So they stopped using the pill. Their acne never came back. I, on the other hand, not wanting to risk getting blood clots, took antibiotics. My acne only got worse. I used to get horrible skin infections, basically huge red patches with liquid underneath them and boils on top. I would send you a pic, but it is way too gross, much grosser than IBD. Anyway, I abused antibiotics. I ignored the fact that they gave me severe diarrhea for years. I didn't know anything about IBD back then.

I hate to see anybody blame themselves for IBD. As you said, you didn't know anything about IBD. So how would you know that "abuse" of antibiotics could cause it? And you took antibiotics in order to avoid taking "the pill", with the possibility of blood clots that came with it, so you were actually trying to protect your health.

If the cause is unknown, how can anybody be blamed? A diehard smoker, persisting with the habit in spite of knowing the risk, could reasonably shoulder a share of the blame. But not UC. I've got UC. My misfortune, but not my fault. But if I know what triggers a flare (alcohol and/or spice do it for me), and I knowingly consume it. ok, mea culpa.

Come to think of it does use of antibiotics cause UC, or just trigger a flare in someone who already has the condition? Maybe you had UC all along.

Hi,

Im suffering from colitis for more than 10 years. i get medicine regularly but there is no significant improvement.
Recently my doctor informed me about a new drug which is to control colitis in USA with a greater success. Its a newly released drug according to my doctor and he refrained to tell the name of the drug because it is still not available and approved in outside USA.Any one knows about this please??????

Thanks for the reply. as i said i have been suffering from UC for about 10 years back. Im 36 yrs now. This is my history and list of medicine which i got so far.

From year 2000 - Mesacol and Salsopirine/Sulphasalaine. When become worse Methyl Prednisalone. Now no control to Mesacol or Salsopirine. Can control to Prednisalone.
According to the Sigmascopy it got spread up to 60CM. Please help!!!!!!

Post Edited (Sampath) : 10/15/2010 10:59:54 PM (GMT-6)

jujub said...
This is outdated thinking. Forty years ago, doctors were taught that UC was a neurotic disease, and that people who got it were meticulous, anxious people. We've learned a bit since then, and know that it, like many other diseases, is a physical problem and not a mental weakness.

This is an old thread, but jujub, I am wondering if you know any sources--news articles or scientific articles--that refute the "UC personality" idea. Because this thread was old, I also started a new thread asking this question, here: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=3976790&g=3977086#m3977086 (I'm not sure exactly how to link a thread, so if that doesn't work let me know.)

I'm writing an essay/blog post about this idea, and have read in several places that the "UC personality" theory has been debunked...but I can't find the data to back that up!