Reflective Functioning in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Non-Affective Psychosis and Affective Disorders—Differences and Similarities

Larisa Dzirlo, Felix Richter, Dagmar Steinmair and Henriette Löffler-Stastka
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Larisa Dzirlo: Department of Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Schwestern, 1060 Vienna, Austria
Felix Richter: Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Dagmar Steinmair: Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Henriette Löffler-Stastka: Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), as part of the functional somatic syndromes, is frequent in the general population. Medical care and morbidity costs are high, and so is the psychological and somatic strain. The etiopathogenesis of IBS is still poorly understood; it is assumed to be multifactorial and to include biopsychosocial factors. Links between the intestine, psyche, nervous system (e.g., via the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA-Axis/neurotransmitters) and with the microbiome, the immune system have lately been investigated. Factors such as personality traits, mentalization, and early attachment strategies (deactivating and hyperactivating) have been suggested to influence IBS with relevance for treatment regimens. At this time, data on reflective functioning (RF) is lacking. Within a cross-sectional, we examined the mentalizing capacity of a clinical sample ( n = 90) consisting of patients with IBS ( n = 30), affective disorders (AD; n = 28), and non-affective psychosis (NAP; n = 32). The reflective functioning scale was used based on the brief reflective function interview (BRFI). The results revealed severe impairment in patients with IBS concerning their mentalizing ability, which was comparable to patients with affective disorders. Patients with non-affective-psychosis showed the lowest mentalizing ability. Thus, psychotherapeutic treatment with a focus on mentalization could be a promising approach.

Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome; mentalizing; reflective functioning; psychosis; affective disorders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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