Hypnosis Treatment for IBS

The Mind and IBS
Mental states clearly affect the way the gut behaves in people with IBS, and in fact, also in people who have no gastrointestinal problems. Although IBS is probably not caused by stress directly, it is well established from research that psychological stress increases the symptoms of many people who have the disorder. If the mind can have such a powerful negative influence on the intestinal tract, it would seem to make sense that the mind could be used to have a positive or calming influence on the intestines.

Several psychological methods are there to treat IBS symptoms which include biofeedback, cognitive therapy, psychodynamic (insight-oriented) therapy, and hypnosis treatment. cognitive therapy and hypnosis treatment have the highest reported success rates in repeated formal research studies.

Hypnosis for IBS
The results of the first formal research study on hypnosis treatment for IBS were published in the Lancet in 1984. The investigators, Dr. Peter Whorwell and his group in Manchester in England, reported remarkable success from a seven-session hypnosis treatment of 15 patients with severe IBS problems who had not responded to any other treatment. All 15 patients treated with seven sessions of hypnotherapy improved, with dramatic improvement seen in all the central symptoms of IBS. The researchers furthermore showed that this therapeutic impact was not merely due to belief or expectancy of improvement, because a comparison group of 15 IBS patients who were instead treated with the same number of psychotherapy sessions and also received placebo pills (pills with no medication) showed only slight improvement. This was a powerful demonstration of the impact hypnotherapy could have on IBS, and led to considerable subsequent interest in this approach to IBS treatment.

Since this first report, researchers confirmed that hypnosis treatment is effective in treating IBS. Generally, the treatment procedures reported in the literature consists of 4 to 12 sessions (shorter treatment than 7 sessions may be a bit less effective). Hypnosis sessions are typically conducted weekly or once every other week, last 30-40 minutes and consist of induction of hypnosis followed by deep relaxation and the use of gut-directed imagery and suggestions. Patients are commonly given short audiotape hypnosis home exercises to use during the course of treatment in addition to the sessions with the clinicians.