Personality patterns seen in irritable bowel syndrome patients.

A study of the personality styles seen in individuals having irritable bowel syndrome was done in a group of 82 patients with this diagnosis. An objective personality test, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, was administered to the irritable bowel syndrome patient group to produce individual profiles for each patient. The 82 profiles were subjected to q-factor analysis resulting in four subgroupings of the original sample. Titles used to describe the personalities seen in the four groups included: inadequate dependency; somatization of affect; reactive depression; and 4) anger and denial. Future studies on the behavioral treatment of irritable bowel syndrome patients may well include a personality inventory as a consideration of how irritable bowel syndrome patients have different personality styles.