Stress in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Similar to other chronic stressors, diagnosis with a chronic illness places youth at risk of adverse psychosocial outcomes. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and indeterminate colitis are chronic, immune-mediated diseases of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by unpredictable remissions of disease activity followed by relapses of symptoms. Although some research has found higher levels of disease activity to relate to greater depressive symptoms, the overall relationship between disease activity and emotional functioning has been mixed, suggesting that additional individual differences need to be considered in addition to illness-related factors when predicting emotional outcomes. Increased risk for developing anxiety disorders and depression has been documented in youth with IBD. Individual differences in physiological reactivity may affect patients' risk for developing psychosocial difficulties within the context of chronic stress. Additional risk factors for developing psychosocial challenges need to be identified to identify moderators of outcomes above and beyond disease activity. Individual differences in physiological reactivity may affect patients' risk for developing psychosocial difficulties within the context of chronic stress. Physiological reactivity, which broadly refers to bodily reactions in response to a stressor, varies with regards to intensity and threshold for activation between individuals. In youth affected by non-medical chronic stress (e.g., family conflict, trauma history), measures of autonomic dysfunction have been used to explain why some individuals have worse psychological and physical outcomes compared to others exposed to similar levels of chronic stress. Results support autonomic dysfunction as a vulnerability factor for adjustment problems within the context of chronic environmental stress. The current study aims to test whether differences in psychophysiological reactivity serve as risk factors in the relationship between clinical disease activity in youth newly diagnosed with IBD and psychosocial adjustment problems. The relationship between psychophysiological reactivity and psychosocial adjustment problems in youth with IBD will be compared to healthy controls. Youth participants with IBD will be enrolled in a coping skills treatment to test the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral intervention including biofeedback to reduce anxiety and depression and disease symptoms. The research team will conduct a pilot intervention targeting autonomic dysfunction through biofeedback-enhanced coping skills treatment delivered virtually over 6-sessions.