[Psychosocial factors in Crohn disease--an overview]

In more than 50 years of psychosomatic research on Crohn's disease, several research hypotheses have been generated, which are critically reviewed here: A disease-specific personality could never be identified, and an important role of psychiatric and psychopathologic personality traits in disease onset was never substantiated. Moreover, most abnormalities found in psychological tests have to be regarded as secondary to chronic illness. Effects of psychologic and social stress on symptoms have not been validated, but it may be that Crohn's patients may have developed less coping abilities with daily hassles. Psychotherapy may improve this, but does not affect the clinical course of the disease.