Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and IBD unclassified (IBD-U), is a chronic, incurable immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. Children with IBD are adversely psychologically impacted by the burden of this disease as it encompasses painful symptoms, hospital admissions, and medical therapy including potential operations, diet changes, and impacts on their growth and development. Numerous reports have shown that children with IBD have increased rates of depression, anxiety, reduced quality of life and food-related quality of life (FR-QoL), and more recently, increased prevalence of eating disorders. These are significant stresses for any child; however, research has shown that several psychological interventions have benefited children with IBD and their families to cope with aspects of these burdens of disease. It is important to consider the disease-related psychological impacts in children with IBD and to appropriately refer for psychological input and support when indicated. Furthermore, there is the need to develop and enhance psychological preventative and intervention strategies to meet the demands for these children and to best understand which interventions are most effective.