Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): could we decide what is behind?

Abstract

Functional visceral problems are frequently present nowadays in the medical practice probably due to the significant mental and emotional load on people. Although physicians and psychophysiologists are active on the field, still we are far from a complete knowledge, despite the fact that scientists like the Hungarian Professor György Ádám already had initiated a new approach called visceral psychophysiology already a long time ago. In this article, we commemorate Professor Ádám by analyzing one of the most frequent functional disorders, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), calling psychophysiology for help. First, we try to give a definition, then show the general descriptions and characteristics of IBS. Factors like stress, gender, and gastrointestinal pain are followed by the potential role of the immune system and the neuronal factors as well as the supposed brain mechanisms. We hope that this overview of the IBS-history would show how significant scientists can be decisive in certain fields of the science and practice.