Take Control!: Insights into Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The proposed self-help book is different from all previous IBS books, for it approaches IBS from a new and exciting viewpoint -- that of coping with IBS using concepts and skills based on the individuals own psychological profile. The rationale is that there is uncertainty about the diagnosis and causes of IBS, and there are no treatments which are lastingly effective -- therefore, people with IBS must learn to cope with IBS as best they can. Psychological and social factors are known to influence the course of an illness, and the way people cope with that illness, even when illnesses have demonstrable physiological/biochemical causes. This book discusses the psychosocial factors which are involved in IBS, as a two-way relationship. It discusses the complex way in which mind/brain and body interact, in producing a different IBS experience for each person who suffers with it. The book shows how a greater knowledge of IBS can lead to a reduction in feelings of being stigmatised and depressed, to a feeling of greater well-being. It shows how sufferers can reduce the impact symptoms have on their day-to-day lives. Complex psychological constructs are explained simply and with the aid of examples and real-life vignettes taken from case studies.