Studies Show Hypnosis Helps With IBS

Lackner, a professor of medicine at a university in New York, has conducted studies on adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.

75 adults were split into three groups.  One group was put on a ten week waiting list whilst their symptoms were monitored.  Another group received the standard cognitive behavioural therapy and a third group received a therapy session once every four weeks over four months, where they practiced relaxation and problem solving techniques for their own use.

Unsurprisingly, groups two and three showed significant improvement, and Lackner reported the results at a meeting of GI professionals.

A pair of Swedish studies was also presented at that same meeting, which involved hypnosis.  Patients received gut-directed Hypnotherapy and showed great improvement.  UNC’s Palsson noted that hypnosis has improved the symptoms of the majority of IBS patients in all studies where it was included and went further to say that if a patients suffered from irritable bowel syndrome that had shown no improvement through the diet and drug approach, he would recommend either hypnosis or CBT.

Palsson went a step further to state that if a patient wanted substantial relief from IBS symptoms then he believed hypnosis to be the better choice according to the research literature, whereas CBT was equally or possibly better for the mental wellbeing with coping with the illness.

Read more in the APP article

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