Science debunking the "ulcerative colitis personality"?

There is no personality type for those with UC...
No science would back that up.....but ask enough questions, and there would be many who would answer them in common for most studies or queries.

q

gratefullady said...
The comments that have rankled me most, over the years, are the ones implying that my personality somehow caused my colitis.

I've never heard this before. Seems like about the craziest, unscientific thing one could say.

I have been told by many that something about me causes this issue. These non scientist people say things like my "anxiety, fear and self loathing" fuel my issue. I have been working on all these issues although self loathing is not something I think I wrestle with I do seem to be a bit more stressed than others and always have been. I do envy people who have nothing to worry about

NiceCupOfTea said...

I'll see if I can find some sources...Medical researchers, instead of examining our personalities for flaws, why don't you try and find a cure for this disease instead?

Thank you so much, NiceCupOfTea, for taking the time to look those up, and yes to the frustration with this line of research. The 2012 paper you linked seems well written, a great compilation of the various studies on this and their strengths and weaknesses.

The paper still makes it seem like the jury's out, though, as you pointed out. That bothers me. If indeed the jury is out and there is some link between personality and UC, then it bothers me that CCFA and others state that this has been debunked. It sounds like it hasn't been. On the other hand, if it has been debunked, then why can I only find scientific studies indicating that there IS evidence of a link?

Most of all, it bothers me to think there is a possible link between personality and UC, because that possibility just doesn't ring true and feels very offensive. Society has a long history of blaming patients--for their "sins", their bad parents, or their weak characters--for diseases that are not yet understood by science. There used to be a "tuberculosis/consumptive personality" and an "arthritis-prone personality"! Even in recent years, there was supposed to be a "cancer-prone personality," which has recently been debunked, thank goodness. So the idea of a "UC personality" seems VERY suspect.

So even though I'll grudgingly admit that the 2012 paper is well written, I am still on the hunt for scientific sources refuting this idea.

TT....oh yes. I concur.

q

iPoop said...
Seems to me, nothing published in a scientific journal is going to say in black-and-white terms that X is wrong as a conclusion *full stop*...

No one study, or meta analysis of studies is the authority to say right/wrong for the entire scientific community. There is no such authority.

Yes, but I can't find ANY studies refuting the idea of a "UC personality," despite finding various statements that such science has been debunked. Where are these people getting the idea that it has been debunked??

Maybe your answer is that it hasn't been disproven. Here's a google search with some results.
/scholar.google.com/scholar?&q=ulcerative+colitis+psycho+biological+interactions

There's a PDF link to this study among others:

The INSPIRE Study: Are Different Personality Traits Related to Disease-Specific Quality of Life (IBDQ) in Distressed Patients with Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease?

iPoop said...
Maybe your answer is that it hasn't been disproven. Here's a google search with some results.
/scholar.google.com/scholar?&q=ulcerative+colitis+psycho+biological+interactions

There's a PDF link to this study among others:

The INSPIRE Study: Are Different Personality Traits Related to Disease-Specific Quality of Life (IBDQ) in Distressed Patients with Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease?

Thanks for taking the time to look this up. Yes, if it hasn't been debunked, I do need to know that...and so do CCFA and others who seem certain that it has!

The search you mentioned looks to be more about how personality relates to quality of life once someone has the disease, rather than to disease etiology. But thanks for doing it.

I had never heard of the personality thing. I know there are scientific studies that link childhood trauma to later adverse health. Nadine Burrke Harris did a TED talk on that research. I think often when something is opinion based to begin with, academia does not take the time to scientifically refute.

gratefullady said...

Connor77 said...
IBD patients tend to be helpers...

It's not scientific, but I have noticed this pattern a lot. Classifying it as a personality type is inaccurate. It's not their personality, it's their constitutional disposition...

It also doesn't explain the epidemic rise in IBD in the western world, so high that we can no longer call this a genetic disease. Our food systems, antibiotics, toxins and modern stress levels are likely to blame.

Thanks very much for this very thoughtful response. I like it, and yet I must admit I come away from it unclear. "Helpers" makes it sound like you do think there is an IBD personality type (actually, the Enneagram does include a personality type called The Helper, type 2). I'm not sure what you mean by constitutional disposition vs. personality. Do you mean "constitution" in terms of Ayurveda, by chance? Do you mean physical constitution, something biological? There is also a problem with the unscientific approach--it's possible that helpers are more likely to join the focus groups! Overall, though, it sounds like maybe you do fall into the camp of "character/personality can relate to IBD onset," although you would take issue with the term personality? Feel free to clarify.

Personalities tend to fluctuate over a lifetime. They are psychological constructs based on life experiences and reactions to them. Disposition and constitution are what underlie personalities. For example, a personality trait may be that you hate being in a loud bar with a lot of ruckus people; you tend to be quiet and reserved. The underlying disposition/constitution would be that sensory stimulus is overwhelming to the nervous system, and this is the foundation that informed the formation of the personality.

So to say that IBD has a personality type is not accurate because a personality is not a root cause, it is a manifestation of a root cause.

I strongly believe that most people with IBD are sensitive individuals. We may not realize it until we eventually get sick, but we are. By "helper" I'm not referring to an assessment system. I'm referring to people who take on the role of helpers in society, i.e. caregivers and people who want to be of service. This forum is a good example. Why am I even responding to this thread? Because I hope it will help someone understand themselves better.

From talking to a lot of IBD people and knowing myself, I feel like we, as a cohort, internalize a lot of what happens in our lives and it affects our health. In ayurveda we are like the vatta dosha... the world is intense and triggering. The energy goes inward and our immune/nervous systems get wiry. In TCM we tend to be lung/large intestine types... we have trouble getting inspired (lungs) and we hold onto garbage (colon), mostly crap that doesn't even belong to us. On a genetic level a lot of us have MTHFR, MTR, or MTRR mutations... we literally can't detox the world we live in.

Connor77 said...
IBD patients tend to be helpers...

It's not scientific, but I have noticed this pattern a lot. Classifying it as a personality type is inaccurate. It's not their personality, it's their constitutional disposition...

Thanks very much for clarifying all that. It's interesting to hear your observations, although for me the jury is still out on whether personality or constitutional disposition relates to IBD onset. I definitely think adverse childhood experiences might, but that's different from what you're talking about. I am still very skeptical about anything else other than biological factors, such as changes in the microbiome that relate to the Western diet.

Even though a lot of what you're saying feels like it could be true, I am largely skeptical because of society's long history of linking character (or personality, or what some might call disposition) to diseases before science fully understood them.

But I suppose this is getting away from my original post. All we can do is converse based on our own observations and opinions, but I'm still specifically wanting to address the science in my blog post. I've decided to wait a couple months before posting it, so I'll still be looking for a while yet.

Thanks!

I think the hormones of stress can contribute towards any illness but as for there being a certain personality nah.