The Role of Psychotherapy in the Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), represents one of the debilitating chronic gastrointestinal diseases that affects the physical and psychological aspects of patients, leading to increased morbidity and mortality and affecting patients' quality of life. There is an increased prevalence of depressive disorders and anxiety among IBD patients, with the gut-brain axis as the proposed underlying mechanism. Treatment of psychological issues among patients with IBD enhances long-term management outcomes. Therefore, we provide a comprehensive review of epidemiology, pathomechanism, diagnosis, and treatment modality of psychological issues frequently found among IBD patients.