Organic Gastrointestinal Illness and the Irritable Bowel Syndrome

I read with interest the article by Kachhwaha et al (Journal, Oct 1994) on 'Psychiatric morbidity in investigated cases of chronic pain abdomen'. The authors had assessed psychiatric symptoms among patients with abdominal pain using Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire, and report that thirty four of the fifty patients studied had various psychiatric symptoms on the GHQ and sixteen had pure organic disorders. Of the thirty four with psychiatric symptoms, twenty six had a psychiatric illness (scores more than 15 on the GHQ) and eight, a demonstrable gastrointestinal illness. Five out of these eight patients and two of the sixteen with pure organic disorders (italics added) were diagnosed to have the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).