View the full PDF at this link: Physical and psychological evaluation of ‘non-organic’ abdominal pain
MRI Explains the abstract:
Investigating the mental history of patients suffering from abdominal pain without having a physical disease
This study looked at the mental history of patients suffering from abdominal pain without having a physical disease. The patients who took part in this study had many siblings compared to a group of patients used as controls. Controls were patients who did not suffer from the investigated symptoms. Study patients also had a high score for mental disturbance. The symptoms mostly began when patients went through mourning or some other problems in their lives. Some patients also suffered from depression when they started the study. Once the depression was treated the pain they experienced all disappeared. This might be a way of treating pain in many patients.
- “A number of patients were considerably depressed when seen and treatment for depression was followed by disappearance of the pain. Some appeared to benefit from the cathartic nature of their psychiatric interview. In a further group of patients their symptoms either disappeared or were greatly improved by Perphenazine or sodium amytal but not by a placebo. “
