The irritable colon syndrome - an interdisciplinary challenge from the psychosomatic point of view

Irritable colon syndrome is a frequent diagnosis in outpatients of general practitioners. At least one third of all patients with abdominal complaints suffer from the irritable colon sydrome. Local factors, central control me chanisms and psychic stress reactions are responsible for the development a nd persistence of the complaints. Differential diagnosis is important to di fferentiate the syndrome from other psychic diseases. Drug therapy may be a pplied for a short period of time only: drug therapy alone is insufficient. Nutritional counselling, relaxation and in some cases also psychotherapies are the treatments of choice after adequate diagnostics.