This is a book that boldly addresses emotions, stress and the influence on the clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease. (IBD)

It is dedicated to health professionals who provide care for patients with IBD and all those who may have interest in the subject.

To start off, I would like to pay homage to the grand master who always supported me in the importance of emotional aspects in patients with IBD, Prof. Dr. Juvenal Ricardo Navarro Goes( (in memoriam), friend and mentor of my master’s thesis entitled Nonspecific Ulcerative colitis in older people, .presented at the School of Education of the State University of Campinas- Unicamp, by transcribing his speech as keynote speaker of the 39th graduating class of medicine of the same university.

This speech is in line with the topic addressed in this book, as it is pure emotion verbalized and experienced by a human being who dedicated his existence to exercise of medicine. With him , I learned not only with the medical knowledge that he transmitted to me , but also with his ethics and personal humanist stance, which is similar to my way of being in relation to our patients .

When comprehending emotions and managing feelings in a conscious manner, human beings can acquire a powerful tool so that they may find a way to live with a greater freedom in their actions and determinations. This requires the art of understanding the meaning of life and accepting it as it is.