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An 18-month study of the effects of IBD symptomatology and emotion regulation on depressed mood

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International Journal of Colorectal Disease Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Depressive symptomatology in IBD patients is known to predict disease activity, which, in turn, can increase depressive symptoms in perpetuating a cycle between depression and IBD symptomatology. The mechanisms that contribute to the relationship between disease activity and depressive symptoms are not clearly investigated yet. Since emotion regulation has been considered particularly relevant to define the impact of adverse experiences on different outcomes, the current study aimed to examine the longitudinal influence of two maladaptive emotion regulation processes, cognitive fusion and brooding, on the association between disease activity and depressed mood.

Methods

This study was conducted over an 18-month period, using a sample of 116 IBD patients that completed self-report validated measures in three different waves. Correlation analyses and cross-lagged panel models were performed.

Results

The main result from this study discovered that the experience of IBD symptomatology at baseline, although positively linked to the manifestation of depressed mood 18 months later (r = 0.25; p < 0.01), does not directly predict depressive symptoms. This relationship is rather indirect, as it is explained by the engagement in cognitive fusion (p = 0.028) and brooding (p = 0.017). These maladaptive emotion regulation processes, that were revealed to be consistent over time, link IBD symptoms with subsequent depressed mood.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that clinicians should be aware of the emotion regulation processes patients tend to use to handle difficult experiences. The inclusion of psychological assessments and interventions in the healthcare of IBD patients should be seriously considered. Further implications are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Portuguese Association for IBD (Associação Portuguesa para a Doença Inflamatória do Intestino (APDI)) for their help during the recruitment process of this study’s sample.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CINEICC—Cognitive and Behavioural Centre for Research and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, 3000-115, Coimbra, Portugal

    Inês A. Trindade, Cláudia Ferreira, Mariana Moura-Ramos & José Pinto-Gouveia

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  1. Inês A. Trindade
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  2. Cláudia Ferreira
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  3. Mariana Moura-Ramos
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  4. José Pinto-Gouveia
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Correspondence to Inês A. Trindade.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

Research by Inês A. Trindade is supported by a Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/101906/2014) sponsored by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

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Trindade, I.A., Ferreira, C., Moura-Ramos, M. et al. An 18-month study of the effects of IBD symptomatology and emotion regulation on depressed mood. Int J Colorectal Dis 32, 651–660 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-017-2774-z

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