IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Background

IBS is a disturbance of the colon where patients present with long-standing symptoms of crampy abdominal pain, bloating, excessive flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, or alternating diarrhea and constipation. It accounts for about half of all the visits to gastroenterologists and affects approximately 10% of the population. Stress is involved and the symptoms of IBS also cause stress because they are very uncomfortable and inconvenient. Stress probably makes it worse and the symptoms of the disease make the stress worse making it a never ending cycle.  

The causes of IBS are unknown. A diagnosis of IBS is actually a diagnosis of exclusion--you rule out everything else. Since IBS symptoms overlap a number of other, potentially life-threatening conditions, it is imperative that the person see his/her physician or a gastroenterologist, to receive a proper diagnosis. While it is not clear what causes it, we know that people with IBS have changes in the way sensations are perceived in the colon. There are some anatomical changes in the lining of the colon and to the nervous system of the colon. What causes these changes is unknown. Symptoms range in severity from an occasional mild episode to a debilitating, life-altering illness which prevents the individual from working or from functioning normally. The symptoms are exacerbated by stress, changes in diet and changes in daily routine, among many other things. Some people are so sensitive they must eat virtually the same foods, in the same proportions, at the same times each day or suffer the consequences. Until recently, IBS was thought to be simply a Anervous disorder and was not taken as seriously as it deserved. While IBS will not kill you, it is far more than just a nuisance.

Traditional treatment consists of fibre therapy, antispasmodic medications and antidepressants. Fibre is added to the diet both through the use of bulking type laxatives and a high fiber diet. These are just as important for those people whose chief complaint is diarrhea as it is for constipation. Antispasmodic medications, such as Bentyl, reduce the spasms in the gut. Antidepressants, in this case, actually function on the nervous system of the gut to reduce its sensitivity to pain and other sensations rather than acting as emotional antidepressants. However, anyone who has suffered from the symptoms of IBS for any length of time justifiably presents with some degree of depressions. It is important to note that only 25% of the people who suffer with IBS symptoms respond to traditional treatments. That means that 75% do not seem to improve with traditional treatments or do not improve enough to actually feel better.

However, the evidence is overwhelming that IBS symptoms do respond to hypnosis. Not only do they respond, but they respond dramatically! The research evidence to support this is so dramatic and so overwhelming that Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD, chair of the National Women's Health Network in Washington, D.C., says that hypnosis should be the treatment of choice for severe cases of IBS.

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.