The interaction between agoraphobia and irritable bowel syndrome

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

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 alterations separately. In this case we are going to focus on the issue of the interaction between agoraphobia and irritable bowel syndrome.

• Related article: "Is it true that we have a second brain in our stomach?"

What is irritable bowel syndrome?

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

The exact cause of this syndrome is unknown, and there is most likely not just one

; However, several factors have been considered as possible causes or responsible for the symptoms of irritable bowel, among which the following should be highlighted:

• Inflammatory processes that affect 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.

Secondly, the degree of intensity of the symptoms and the discomfort that this produces, in addition to their duration and frequency of appearance, can vary considerably. However, in most cases it is an alteration capable of significantly damaging the quality of life of the person while the disorder is present.

And it is that 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 an especially anxious and overwhelming way.

• You may be interested in: "Digestive system: anatomy, parts and functioning"

What is agoraphobia?

Agoraphobia is a psychopathology that is part of anxiety disorders, and that is included within the phobias. Specifically, this alteration causes people to develop a very intense and maladaptive fear of the idea of ​​being in a situation of extreme disability or vulnerability in a place where there will be no help or access to the means to ask for it.

In most cases, is based on fear of fear: the person develops a strong anticipatory anxiety when anticipating that he will suffer a very pronounced peak of anxiety in a place where this can cost him dearly. That is why agoraphobia is often confused with a kind of fear of leaving home. In reality, those who develop this disorder are not afraid of leaving their home, but rather of exposure to places where they feel like they can totally lose control and be severely damaged by not having protection.

Thus, agoraphobia creates a vicious cycle: the prospect of having an anxiety problem generates anxiety. And if, in addition, this anticipation of anxiety is combined with the anticipation of the symptoms of a physical illness that one suffers, the problem increases.

• Related article: "The fear of not being able to escape: understanding agoraphobia"

The link between irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety problems

In the absence of a clear organic cause to explain the appearance of this disorder, many have been the experts who have tried to find it in the patient's brain, associating it with a psychological problem such as anxiety.

Thus, the relationship between irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety disorders it has been a subject of extensive research. In this sense, the link between this syndrome and anxiety is not fully known, but it is a fact that there is a relationship, since from 10 to 15% of the world population that suffers from irritable bowel, about 50% have psychological symptoms, especially 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 problems emotional 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 something characterizes anxiety disorders, it is their ability to feed back from of the consequences that their symptoms generate (in case these are not well managed by the person).

Added to this, it must be said that a digestive problem with anxiety disorders is understandable, since it is common for individuals to healthy, without a diagnosed psychological or digestive problem, they have felt on more than one occasion how their nerves go to the lower area belly. 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 sees her digestive function altered while being anxious, it makes sense to think that in a person with irritable bowel the situation will be more serious.

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

It cannot be said that anxiety directly and unidirectionally causes irritable bowel syndrome (somewhat understandable, considering that many diseases do not have a single cause), but this medical condition causes let's be anxious. This was the conclusion reached by a 2016 study conducted by the group of Koloski, Jones and Talley in which 1,900 were followed Australians, monitoring individuals with symptoms typical of irritable bowel and who at the beginning of the study reported no problems psychological. These same individuals showed high levels of anxiety and depression one year after receiving the diagnosis.

Added to this, of all those who had a gastrointestinal disorder at the end of the study, two-thirds had intestinal symptoms before psychological symptoms. This finding suggests that it is more common for irritable bowel syndrome to cause psychological problems than the other way aroundEither 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 system digestive. This has been seen with mice, animals in which scientists have discovered stress-related diseases, both acute and chronic, which can alter the intestinal environment by modifying the composition of the microbiota intestinal. This altered microbiota has been associated with anxious and depressive behaviors in these rodents.

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