[Psychiatric aspects of Crohn's disease (author's transl)]. / Aspects psychiatriques de la maladie de Crohn.

We have examined 13 patients suffering from Crohn's disease, almost all of them during an active spell. Three patients had a well-structured personality, four patients an obsessional one, one patient a narcissistic personality, and five patients a passive-dependant personality structure. Four patients seemed depressed and anxious. The texts dealing with the psychological aspects of Crohn's disease acknowledge the influence of a stress as a precipitating factor. Patients' passivity and dependence is an idea emphasized by several authors, and the frequency of obsessive personality traits is pointed out in different studies. In short, no author allows us to conclude formally in favour of a psychosomatic origin of Crohn's disease, which confirms our impression after examination of the patients we have talked with or seen regularly.