Mental Health and Psychological Functioning in Children and Adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a Comparison with Children having Other Chronic Illnesses and with Healthy Children

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders and behaviour problems were found to be commoner in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than in matched comparison groups with tension headache and diabetes as well as in healthy children. Depression, anxiety and low self-esteem were common. Many children denied their problems. This may be due to the type of illness, its social consequences and the embarrassment experienced by the children. Discrepancies were found between the children's and their mothers' replies. These results are discussed in terms of their implication for paediatric practice.