Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Caution

The news report referred to in the newsletter said

"Hypnotherapy is effective for the treatment of children with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional abdominal pain (FAP), investigators reported here at Digestive Diseases Week (DDW)."

AND continues on to say

"They [researchers] defined a cure as a greater than 80% improvement in pain."

There is no indication on how many children had FAP and how many had IBS. The definition of a cure is a bit strange because it is defined as a reduction in pain not a 100% disappearance of FAP or IBS or even a change in other IBS symptoms.

Also, it should be noted that a number of caveats are attached to this study

"This study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication."

"The finding is not a surprise, commented Maria Abreu, M.D., of Mount Sinai in New York, who moderated the press conference at which Dr. Vlieger discussed her findings. "If there was any group of humans who would be very prone to improve with hypnotherapy," she said, "it would be children -- they have less baggage than adults."

Also, while a reduction in pain was observed between the children in the hypnotherapy and standard control group no difference was observed in the other symptoms.

A recently published article on the efficacy of hypnotherapy concluded "In conclusion, although hypnotherapy offers some promise in the case of refractory [resistant to control] IBS, its efficacy has not been conclusively established because of methodologic inadequacies in the reviewed studies. Before hypnotherapy is widely used, well-designed trials supporting its value are needed."

It is worthwhile noting that a hypnotherapy unit within the UK National Health Service, dedicated to providing gut-directed treatment for IBS patients, has been established in Manchester.

It unlikely that hypnotherapy is a 'cure' for IBS. However, the research does support the notion that for some individuals hypnotherapy can help them manage their IBS, particularly pain, better.

Reference
Gholamrezaei, A., S. Ardestani, and i. M. Emam, 2006: "Where does hypnotherapy stand in the management of irritable bowel syndrome? A systematic review". Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 12, 517-27.

Gonsalkorale, W. M. and P. J. Whorwell: "Hypnotherapy in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome". [Review]. European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology January 2005;17(1):15-20.

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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS

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