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Introduction Traumatic events in early life are associated with greater incidence of IBD as well as greater of mental health burden for those with IBD and worse disease outcomes. However, living with IBD also makes people more susceptible to post traumatic stress (PTS). This study aimed to assess trauma in those newly diagnosed with IBD, to establish the degree of trauma experienced at this stage of their disease journey.Methods This study was part of a quality improvement project exploring the needs of patients newly diagnosed with IBD who attended a specialist new diagnosis clinic, in a tertiary centre. All patients who attended this clinic between February and December 2025 were contacted via email and asked to complete a questionnaire.Patients answered questions about their disease, the support that they have available to them, and the support that they still feel is needed. Trauma was assessed using the PCL-5 questionnaire, which is a self-report measure to screen the symptoms and severity of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Patients answer 20 questions scored on a 1-4 Likert scale, with a sum of these items giving their total score.Results A total of 103 patients were contacted via email and 35 responded. 20 of the respondents were female and the age range was 24-73. 56% had Crohn’s Disease (CD), 26% had Ulcerative Colitis (UC), 11% weren’t sure, and 2% had other forms of IBD. 77% were on medication for treatment of their IBD.There was heterogeneity in the PTSD scores, with a mean score of 21.42 (standard deviation=21.61). However, 31% of patients scored above the cutoff (≥31) for PTSD.Within the last 2 years, 26% of the total sample had accessed psychological support and 9% had taken psychotropic medication. 49% of patients reported they would be interested in receiving psychological support with their IBD, with 77% reporting they would like support from a new patient group with other people who have been recently diagnosed with IBD.Conclusions A considerable proportion of patients newly diagnosed with IBD report significant symptoms of PTSD. This indicates that patients with IBD experience significant trauma either in their pre-diagnostic life or that there are traumatic factors around early symptoms and diagnosis. The proportion of trauma in this population is similar to other studies of trauma in IBD but this gives us a sense of when these traumatic experiences occur. Given the distress related to PTSD and the poorer prognostic outcomes for patients with significant mental health burden, we should be screening for and treating PTSD in patients newly diagnosed with IBD. Patients report that this support is something that they desire.