Beyond the Gut: How to Integrate Psychological Screening Into the Standard of Care for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

Plain Language Summary In a subset of patients, their IBS symptom course corresponds with the severity of their psychological comorbidities. This indicates that psychological distress as a predominant symptom may constitute a distinct phenotype of patients with IBS and require an augmented treatment algorithm. Future studies should determine psychological screening criteria and tools to identify these patients and assess unique treatment needs for those with clinically significant psychological comorbidity.