[Psychosocial aspects of fecal incontinence]

Although fecal incontinence is one of the more frequent clinical symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract, its assessment is often neglected in clinical practice. The psychosocial aspects of the symptoms are also often overlooked: The number of undetected cases in comparison to those registered illustrates that not only patients but also physicians avoid this topic during clinical routine. Consequences of fecal incontinence for the quality of life of patients have rarely been investigated, but we could show that there are specific impacts of incontinence on family life, specifically with respect to sexuality, and on the job situation of those affected. Finally, it has been shown that in most cases continence can be achieved by management strategies deriving from psychological learning theory such as biofeedback training.