Published by : Pubmed.gov – the National Library of Medicine
Authors : J. Lovdahl, S. Storsrud & H. Tornblom €
Department of Internal Medicine & Clinical Nutrition, Institute of
Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg,
Gothenburg, Sweden. Full article
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common of the functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, and poses a significant challenge regarding treatment. This is particularly challenging when considering non-pharmacologic treatment options.
The authors describe their research into treating IBS through 3 treatment options:
- Gut-directed hypnotherapy
- A low FODMAP diet or
- combination of both.
They found that option 3 – ie using gut directed hypnotherapy AND the FODMAP diet together did deliver both short term – ie 6 weeks and longer term ie 6 months benefits, but it did not increase outcomes as much as anticipated. They question the value of doing both simultaneously.
Both hypnotherapy or FODMAP led to a decrease in severity of symptoms and in all cases this persisted for longer than 6 months post treatment. Hypnotherapy treatment showed better results at both 6 weeks and 6 month time points.
This confirms previous studies which confirm the effectiveness of gut-directed hypnotherapy in the treatment of IBS.
It is of course always important to ensure the clients doctor is included as part of the client’s treatment team, and that the client presents us with a confirmed IBS diagnosis by a medical professional.
