Interaction between agoraphobia and irritable bowel syndrome

Let's see what is known about the influence of agoraphobia on irritable bowel syndrome and vice versa.

Agoraphobia is a psychological disorder capable of producing a lot of discomfort for a long time, so it is important to seek professional support in therapy as soon as the first symptoms begin to emerge.

However, while this psychopathology is already harmful by itself, when combined with physical illnesses, the combination is even more negative: more than the sum of both disorders separately. In this case, we will focus on the issue of the interaction between agoraphobia and irritable bowel syndrome..

What is irritable bowel syndrome?

Irritable bowel syndrome, also known as irritable bowel syndrome, is a chronic disorder of the Gastrointestinal function that causes various digestive that generates various digestive discomforts. Among the most common physical symptoms of this medical problem are digestive spasms, abdominal pain, spontaneous diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, bloating, meteorism, and nausea.

The exact cause of this syndrome is unknown, and it is most likely that there is not a single cause.However, several factors have been suggested as possible causes or responsible for the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, including the following:

• Inflammatory processes affecting the digestive system.
• Alterations in intestinal permeability.
• Anxiety, stress, mood disorders and other psychological problems.
• Instability and lack of balance in the microbial flora of the intestines.

On the other hand, the degree of intensity of the symptoms and the discomfort they produce, as well as their duration and frequency of occurrence, can vary considerably.. However, in most cases it is a disturbance capable of significantly impairing the quality of life of the person while the disorder is present.

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome have a condition that makes their lives very difficult. The gastrointestinal symptoms of this syndrome are not only painful, but are also experienced in a particularly anxious and overwhelming way.

What is agoraphobia?

Agoraphobia is a psychopathology that is part of the anxiety disorders.It is included within the phobias. Specifically, this disorder causes people to develop a very intense and maladaptive fear of the idea of being left in a situation of extreme incapacity or vulnerability in a place where they will have no help and will not be able to access the means to ask for it.

In most cases, it is based on the fear of fearThe person develops a strong anticipatory anxiety, foreseeing that he/she will suffer a very pronounced peak of anxiety in a place where it can cost him/her dearly. This is why agoraphobia is often confused with a kind of fear of leaving home. In reality, those who develop this disorder do not fear the fact of leaving their home, but rather the exposure to places where they feel they can lose control completely and be very damaged by the fact of not having protection.

Thus, agoraphobia creates a vicious circle: the prospect of having an anxiety problem generates anxiety. And if in addition this anticipation of anxiety is joined to the anticipation of the symptoms of a physical disease that one suffers, the problem is enlarged.

The link between irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety problems.

Not having found a clear organic cause to explain the appearance of this disorder, many experts have tried to find it in the patient's brain, associating it to a psychological problem such as anxiety.

Thus, the relationship between irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety disorders has been a subject of extensive research. In this sense, the link between this syndrome and anxiety is not completely known, but it is a fact that there is a relationship, since of the 10 to 15% of the world's population suffering from irritable bowel disease, about 50% present psychological symptomatology, mainly in the form of anxiety disorders.mainly in the form of anxiety disorders.

On the other hand, despite being a digestive condition, the severity of its symptoms and the limitation it entails can involve multiple emotional problems to patients affected by this condition, so that in those cases in which anxiety is one of the main triggers of the syndrome, a vicious circle is generated. And if anything characterizes anxiety disorders is their ability to feed back from the consequences generated by their symptoms (if these are not well managed by the person).

Added to this, it is understandable to relate a digestive problem with anxiety disorders, as it is common that healthy individuals, without psychological or digestive problem diagnosed, have felt on more than one occasion as their nerves go to the lower abdomen. For example, when we are nervous because we have to give a speech, it is common to feel digestive symptoms in the form of dry mouth, cramps or even diarrhea.

If a healthy person's digestive function is altered when he or she is anxious, it makes sense to think that in a person with irritable bowel syndrome the situation will be more serious.

The symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are too physical to be attributed entirely to an anxiety problem. There must also be variables of a biological nature behind them, such as certain genetic predispositions.Although having an altered emotional state certainly does not help. Having high levels of anxiety can affect intestinal transit and, in turn, having digestive problems such as chronic diarrhea and constipation does not help to be calm.

It cannot be stated that anxiety directly and unidirectionally causes irritable bowel syndrome (which is understandable, considering that many diseases do not have a single cause), but it is true that this medical condition makes us anxious. This was the conclusion reached by a 2016 study by Koloski, Jones and Talley's group in which 1,900 Australians were followed, monitoring individuals with symptoms characteristic of irritable bowel and who at the start of the study did not report suffering from psychological problems. These same individuals showed high levels of anxiety and depression one year after being diagnosed.

Added to this, of all those who had a gastrointestinal disorder at the end of the study, two-thirds reported gut symptoms before psychological symptoms. This finding suggests that it is more common for irritable bowel syndrome to be the cause of psychological problems than the other way around, either in the form of anxiety, anxiety-related symptoms or psychological problems.This finding suggests that it is more common for irritable bowel syndrome to cause psychological problems than vice versa, whether in the form of anxiety, stress or depression.

On the other hand, it has been shown that the gut microbiota influences the gut-brain axis, that is, the set of organs and networks of neurons that connect our brain with most of the digestive system. This has been seen in mice, animals in which scientists have discovered diseases linked to stress, both acute and chronic, that can alter the intestinal environment by modifying the composition of the intestinal microbiota. This altered microbiota has been associated with anxious and depressive behaviors in these rodents.

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