A psychological approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome management

May 25th, 2007 | Category: Anxiety Disorders

Hypnotherapy has plus been reported to be an effective intervention for IBS in small trials, although a recent review of hypnotherapy trials found inadequate evidence to recommend its widespread use and suggested that that treatment option should be restricted to specialist centers dealing with more severe cases of the syndrome.

The choice of treatment will depend on the individual patient and, inevitably, will be limited by local availability, they add.

Patients with IBS are more likely to suffer from anxiety or depression and have ‘abnormal’ behavior patterns including anxiety and somatization (conversion of an emotional, mental, or psychosocial problem to a physical complaint).
Psychological approach to managing irritable bowel syndrome
BMJ 2007 May 26;334:1105-1109 [Abstract]

Antidepressants and psychological treatments such as hypnotherapy have the potential to help patients with severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), say researchers in that week’s BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal).

Nevertheless, hypnotherapy has the potential to help those patients whose IBS is severe, say the authors.

They believe that increasing provision of

primary care services for patients with IBS will supply an avenue for effective and early psychological treatment for a condition in which real improvement can be achieved.

However, many doctors are reluctant to prescribe such agents to patients who are clearly not depressed.

IBS is a very common disorder, but conventional ‘physical’ treatments often do not work very well and patients can feel that their symptoms are being ignored, downplayed or misunderstood. For example, ‘talking therapies’ such as cognitive behavior therapy are as effective as antidepressant treatment and its benefits may last longer. However, IBS is undeniably very common and many patients are probably denied help by lack of access to therapists with the appropriate psychological skills.

Other “psychological” therapies exist that patients with IBS should be made aware of, they say.

Hayee B, Forgacs I. that has led to the notion that IBS has a psychological as well as a biological basis and a growing body of evidence supports the use of antidepressants for IBS, write the authors.
Original post by Anxiety Insights

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