The case of anal fissures and hemorrhoids begin with just the simplest causes. The tissues in the anal area, which are designed to be too tight for anything really big to fit through, gets damaged when a large and hard piece of stool forces its way out of the anus. This damage manifests itself in the form of wounds on the lining of the anal canal, which, once irritated, mutate to become the fissures that bring discomfort and pain to the person who has them.
Big and hard stools may be the presumed root cause of having anal fissures, but some medical experts also assert the claim that psychological factors such as anxiety and stress play a role in the development of anal fissures and hemorrhoids. For someone who thinks that the reason for such a condition is physical, believing in this claim can prove to be difficult. Therefore, many people ask: Are stress, depression, anxiety and fatigue related to anal fissures?
Research by leading medical professionals have observed that in patients that suffer from anal fissures, the muscles that surround the anal canal contract with much greater force than normal. This means that the muscles are in spasm whenever they are tasked to push bowel out of the body. When this happens, the pressure in the anal canal becomes high, which leads to the formation of fissures.
The anal canal has two parts: the external anal sphincter and the internal anal sphincter. While the internal anal sphincter’s movements are involuntary, the external anal sphincter is voluntary, as proven by the fact that a person actually has the ability to push the stools out by letting out some force. The fact that a person can voluntarily control a part of the anal canal indicates that a person may exert pressure on the canal without realizing the repercussions of that action. Spasms in the anal canal only happen when a person is experiencing emotional stress, or physical ailments such as diarrhea. When it comes to emotional stress, the level of anxiety felt actually causes the sphincter to spasm from time to time, leading to a disproportionate amount of pressure that can encourage anal fissures.
Of course, this finding is open for improvement for further studies. For those who wish to study about anal fissures and those who wish to answer the question are stress, depression, anxiety and fatigue related to anal fissures, the simple conclusion that is given by existing studies at this point is that psychological conditions can possibly be directly related to anal fissure development. However, since the causes of these fissures can vary from one person to another, there really is no exact telling as of the moment if there is a specific correlation between the two variables (psychological conditions and anal fissures). The only thing that is certain now is that anal fissures are primarily caused by excessive pressure forced on the anal canal, which leads to tissue damage and eventually to the development of hemorrhoids.