THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HASSLES, UPLIFTS AND IRRITABLE-BOWEL-SYNDROME - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

In a preliminary study, 30 sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome fille d in daily symptom sheets and the combined Hassles and Uplifts questio nnaire for five weeks. Initially, analyses were carried out for each s ymptom separately. Results showed that ratings on the hassles and symp toms questionnaires completed in the same week were more highly associ ated than ratings for hassles and symptoms in different weeks. No One symptom in any week was significantly associated with the following we ek's hassles. Similarly, hassles in any one week were not associated w ith the following week's symptoms. However, total symptoms were found to be significantly associated with hassles in the following weeks, wh ereas the association between hassles and total symptoms in the follow ing weeks was not significant. The study suggests that there is a cumu lative effect of symptoms such that an increase in the severity of the combined effect of symptoms is associated with an increase in severit y of stress in the next week. Increased hassles do not appear to exace rbate symptoms. There was no evidence of an association between uplift s and IB symptoms.