Gender Differences in Automatic Negative Thoughts, Anxiety Depression and Quality of Life Among Patient with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The present study aimed to assess the gender differences in Automatic Negative thoughts, Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life among Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The study was descriptive in nature. The data was collected from civil hospital Bhiwani, Haryana. The sample size of the study was 60 participants with irritable bowel syndrome, among them 30 were male and 30 females under the age range of 18 – 35 years selected through the purposive sampling technique. The data were obtained by using the DASS scale by (Lovibond & Lovibond 1995), quality of life scale WHOQOL-BREF by (World Health Organization in 1996) Automatic Thought Questionnaire 1980by (Hollon& Kendall, 1980). The study found that the highest percentage of individuals with irritable bowel syndrome fall in the severe level of depression while as in anxiety, the majority of the respondents fall in extremely severe level. Further, anxiety was found negatively and insignificantly correlated with quality of life among individuals with irritable bowel syndrome whereas depression was found significant and negatively correlated with quality of life. No significant difference was found between male and female individuals with irritable bowel syndrome in anxiety, depression, quality of life, and automatic negative thought. This research could be helpful for doctors, psychiatrists, counsellors to provide the treatment and interventions that would facilitate better the quality of life among individuals with irritable bowel syndrome.