Couples, Families, & Health Celiac Disease: Psychological, Developmental, and Family Counseling Issues

Celiac disease (CD) is a lifelong inherited autoimmune disease triggered by gluten, a component of many foods and household items, which affects 1 % of the population. Despite numerous symptoms of CD including serious psychological, developmental, and behavioral issues, CD is not only often undiagnosed but is also underrepresented in medical literature and virtually ignored with family counseling literature. The impact of CD on individuals, couples, and families, however, requires a call to the counseling profession to develop skills to understand CD’s effects. As such, an overview of the medical aspects of CD, gender and cultural factors, prognosis, and individual, couple, and family dynamics as well as treatment considerations of CD are presented. Keywords celiac disease, autoimmune, child development, parenting, gluten Celiac disease (CD), also referred to as celiac sprue, gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and nontropical sprue, is a lifelong inher-ited autoimmune disease that is triggered by gluten. Gluten, a common protein derived from wheat, barley, and rye utilized in many food substances and household products, affects the digestive process of the small intestine in individuals with CD