M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / Irritable bowl syndrome (IBS) is one of the common conditions referred to gastroentorologists, but one of the least understood. Part of the reason for this is the real lack of consensus of opinion regarding the nature of the complaint. The problem is confounded by the absence of objective disease makers, as well as the variation in symptom presentation. The term (IBS) describes a cluster of symptoms which include chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits (diarrhoea, constipation, or alternating diarrhoea and constipation) in the absence of a known structural cause for the symptom (Toner, Garfinkel, Jeejeebhoy, Scher, Shulhan & Di Gasbarro, 1990). The symptoms of IBS mimic those of many other gastrointestinal diseases and the challenge to medical doctors is to establish a confident diagnosis based on the symptomatology of the individual, without the need to carry out multiple investigations to eliminate organic disease of the bowel. The pathogenesis of a condition remains a mystery. Most doctors would not consider IBS to a 'proper" disease at all, but view it as a physiological alteration in intestinal function brought about by psychological disturbance (Read, 1985).