Is Your Ulcerative Colitis-Related Stress Under Control?

Everyone deals with stress from time to time, but people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have more than their fair share.

Christina Gentile, PsyD, ABPP, a board-certified clinical health psychologist specializing in digestive diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, explains that on top of the typical life stressors, people with IBDs like ulcerative colitis must deal with debilitating symptoms and navigate a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability around flares, treatments, and related illnesses. “This impacts many aspects of life,” she says.

People with IBD are also at greater risk for anxiety and depression, which, in turn, can make it harder for them to manage their condition and physically cope with the disease (say, by exercising, eating a healthy diet, and meditating, for example).

“It’s this really complicated issue where the symptoms [of IBD] are causing stress and making it harder for you to do the things that are also protective against stress,” says Stephen Lupe, PsyD, a clinical health psychologist specializing in digestive diseases at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

In other words, anxiety and stress can trigger — or aggravate — inflammation and colitis, and vice versa, says Berkeley Limketkai, MD, a gastroenterologist and director of IBD clinical research at the UCLA Center for IBD.

In short, if you’re feeling stressed out by ulcerative colitis, you’re certainly not alone. But it’s important to understand how much stress — and feelings of depression or anxiety — may be affecting your daily life. Answer the following questions to help you determine whether your coping skills are working or you need help rethinking your stress-management strategy.