Stress management in the long-term treatment of peptic ulcer disease

The definition of stress varies from author to author. Whether or not it is experienced depends on the perception of the potentially stress-producing event. Stress can be induced experimentally in animals or human beings in various ways and can arise from a person's occupation, leading to adverse effects such as hypertension, cardiac alterations, increase in gastric acid secretion and the occurrence of peptic ulceration. In man, peptic ulceration may be linked to a dependence-independence conflict. The incidence of duodenal ulcer has been shown to be higher in those from broken homes than from normal homes. In 103 duodenal ulcer patients with high scores for stressful life events followed-up over a 15 month period, the outcome was more favourable in those who received psychotherapy plus intermittent pharmacotherapy than in those who received intermittent pharmacotherapy alone.