EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, vol.8, no.12, pp.549-556, 2003 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: The role of psychological factors in the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a matter of debate. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders is high in IBS patients. Positive response to antidepressant therapy and presence of family history of depression in IBS patients have led speculations whether this syndrome might be regarded as an affective spectrum disorder. In this study we tried to examine the possible association of IBS with affective spectrum disorders.