Positive Health Online

Abstract

GONSALKORALEand co-workers, Department of Medicine, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, UK, wgonsaltorale@ compuserve.com, report on the long-term benefits of hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome.

Background

There is good evidence that hypnotherapy is useful in short-term treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). However there needs to be evidence that the treatment is useful in the long term before the therapy can be widely recommended. This study aimed to fill this gap.

Methodology

204 patients completed questionnaires coring symptoms, quality of life, anxiety, and depression before, immediately after, and up to six years following hypnotherapy. All subjects also subjectively assessed the effects of hypnotherapy retrospectively in order to define their 'responder status'.

Results

71% of patients initially responded to hypnotherapy. Of these, 81% maintained the improvement over time. The rest claimed that the deterioration in their symptoms had been slight. All symptom scores were improved at follow-up compared to pre-hypnotherapy levels (p < 0.001) and showed little change from post-hypnotherapy values. Quality of life and anxiety and depression scores were still significantly reduced at follow-up but did show some deterioration compared to post-hypnotherapy scores. Patients also reported a reduction in medication use following the completion of hypnotherapy.

Conclusion

This study shows that the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy for IBS last for at least 5 years, and hypnotherapy is thus a viable treatment option for IBS.

References

Gonsalkorale WM, Miller V, Afzal A, Whorwell PJ. Long term benefits of hypnotherapy for irritable bowel sundrome. Gut 52 (11): 1623-1629, Nov 2003.