Emotional abuse, self-blame, and self-silencing in women with irritable bowel syndrome

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of emo tional abuse and two psychosocial constructs (self-blame and self-silencing ) in a sample of women diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome [IBS) relati ve to a comparison sample of women diagnosed with inflammatory bowel diseas e (IBD), Methods: Women diagnosed with IBS (N = 25) were compared with wome n diagnosed with IBD (N = 25) on measures of history of abuse, self-blame, and self-silencing. Results: It was found that women in the IBS sample scor ed significantly higher on emotional abuse, self-blame, and self-silencing than did women in the IBD sample. These three variables were also found to be significantly intercorrelated in both the IBS and IBD samples. Finally, emotional abuse was significantly higher in IBS patients than in IBD patien ts beyond the differences accounted for by physical and/or sexual abuse his tory. Conclusions: These findings empirically demonstrate an association be tween IBS and emotional abuse, as well as a possible connection with psycho social variables, that may mediate the connection between emotional abuse a nd functional bowel symptoms. We suggest that these variables be further ev aluated in the context of clinically relevant research on IBS.