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Symptom complaints, psychiatric disorder and abnormal illness behaviour in patients with upper abdominal pain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Stephen Colgan ,
Francis Creed  and
Howard Klass
Stephen Colgan*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester
Francis Creed
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester
Howard Klass
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr S. Colgan, Department of Medicine, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, Manchester M20 8LR.
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Synopsis

Seventy patients presenting to the gastroenterologist with upper abdominal pain were examined by a psychiatrist to establish the presence of psychiatric disorder, illness behaviour and to record in detail their symptom pattern. The 37 patients who had no organic cause for their abdominal complaints were subdivided into those with and without psychiatric disorder. The former (21 patients) demonstrated more illness behaviour, they complained of more abdominal symptoms and their pain was both more severe and more persistent than in the patients with organic disease and those with non-organic illness who did not have psychiatric disorder. The latter group reported no symptoms of ‘psychoneurosis’ and should probably be regarded as a separate group if the aetiology of functional abdominal pain is to be clarified. Those with non-organic abdominal complaints who had psychiatric illness could be distinguished by the presence of three symptoms, namely depression, anxiety and fatigue. Detection and treatment of their psychiatric disorder might lead to a decrease in their symptomatic complaints and illness behaviour.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , November 1988 , pp. 887 - 892
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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