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Imagine you are tucked into a comfortable chair in a cozy room. Feel yourself becoming more and more relaxed as you count from 1 to 20. Then, in your mind, imagine this deep sense of peace moving through your body down to your intestines. Imagine no pain, no cramps, no diarrhea. Imagine all of your UC symptoms have disappeared.
Sounds pretty dreamy, right? But what if you told me that working with a hypnotherapist alongside your gastroenterologist might help relieve your ulcerative colitis symptoms to a new level? This isn’t just some fancy treatment. “Gut-directed” hypnotherapy has been around for over 40 years. It was first used for IBS in 1984 at South Manchester University Hospital in the UK by an innovative gastroenterologist named Peter Warwell, MD, PhD. Since then, over 30 studies have been published, most of which are about IBS. But when researchers look specifically at ulcerative colitis, the results are always promising.
A British study found that UC patients who completed a gut-targeted hypnotherapy program were relapse-free for 78 days longer than those who did not receive treatment. Additionally, 68% of patients remained in remission after one year, compared with 40% in the other group. Additionally, other studies suggest that the therapy can help reduce inflammation and improve quality of life. Depending on your insurance, it may be covered.
“Gut-targeted hypnotherapy is certainly not a substitute for medication,” says Megan Leal, PhD, a digestive health psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But in the seven years she has used gut-targeted hypnotherapy with her patients, she has seen a high success rate of 50% to 70% and long-term improvements in digestive function. “Most of my UC patients undergo a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy to improve coping strategies and identify faulty thinking, and then gut-targeted hypnotherapy is also incorporated as part of their treatment plan.”
Want to know more about how it works? Find out here.
How are the brain and gut connected?
The “gut feeling” people talk about isn’t just an instinct. Scientists now know that there’s a complex communication system (they call it the “gut-brain axis”) that connects your brain and your gut. According to a study in the journal Neuroscience, the brain and gut “talk” to each other through nerves, immune cells, and the microbes that live in your digestive tract. cell.
For example, in the case of inflammatory bowel disease, there is growing evidence that stress triggers changes in the microbiome that lead to immune cells producing a flood of inflammatory cells. The result? More relapses and severe disease. Moreover, the gut-brain connection is bidirectional: changes in the gut lead to changes in the brain, putting patients at higher risk for anxiety and depression. It is precisely because of this innate connection that psychology-based treatments for UC and other gut disorders can be a powerful complement to traditional medicine.
How exactly does hypnosis work?
Let’s start with what hypnotherapy is not. Hypnotherapy has absolutely nothing in common with what you probably imagine it to be: there are no pendulums, no loss of consciousness, no loss of control (and no crowing like a rooster). All these misconceptions have led to a prejudice against hypnotherapy.
“Some patients need more education about what hypnosis is like,” says Dr. Sarah Kinsinger, a gastrointestinal psychologist and director of gastrointestinal health behavioral medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. “Some people have unrealistic expectations of what it’s going to feel like to be hypnotized. They think it’s a dramatic experience where they lose consciousness and control,” Dr. Kinsinger says. “And it’s not like that.”
When these clichéd but still common misconceptions come up, Dr. Leal says he is almost always able to clear them up with his patients.
“This is not staged hypnosis, but a medical intervention to help you better manage your health,” she says. If patients are skeptical, she offers additional education, including evidence from the medical literature, explaining that the treatment targets and treats dysregulation between the brain and gut.
Okay, so what happened? teeth So what is hypnosis? It’s a form of deep relaxation that allows you to be receptive to suggestions. In the case of gut-targeted hypnosis for UC, the suggestions are all about reducing symptoms and healing the colon. For example, your therapist might ask you to place your head on your stomach and imagine a soothing warmth. Then they might ask you to think of your bowel movements as a slow-flowing river. No spasmodic rapids here. You get the idea.
How conscious you are through all of this will depend on how susceptible you are to hypnosis – some people say they hear every word (when they’re very relaxed), while others say they hear nothing when they close their eyes – but in the end, how deeply you can go into a trance doesn’t really affect the outcome.
“Research suggests that hypnotizability doesn’t matter that much if you use this as an intervention,” says Dr. Leal. “What’s most important is that you’re willing to introduce it as part of a larger treatment plan.” (There are some circumstances in which this treatment isn’t recommended, such as people with a history of untreated trauma or ongoing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.)
What does a hypnotherapy treatment plan look like?
Typically, the process begins with a discussion about how the therapy can help, says Dr. Leal. “Patients may be in clinical remission but still have severe gut issues – diarrhea and abdominal pain. Hypnotherapy is a great strategy to alleviate the more functional gut symptoms. Even though UC patients are under control, they still have symptoms similar to those of IBS patients. Hypnotherapy can address the visceral hypersensitivity that patients experience because of that overlap.”
A typical hypnotherapy treatment protocol involves seven sessions spaced two weeks apart over a four-month period, Dr. Leal says, with patients returning for follow-up appointments from time to time. In between appointments, patients listen to a 20-minute audio recording once a day.
“That way, they can hone their skills and have time to relax and observe their body while listening to the intervention,” she says. “They can then start incorporating that practice into their daily routine.”
The key word here is “practice.” It’s not that you’ll immediately know exactly what to do to get the most out of your treatment, says Dr. Kinzinger. “Patients may not see dramatic changes when they first start treatment, but I encourage them to give it a go over a few sessions, just like learning any new skill.”
She knows it’s easy to get impatient. “As I work with my patients to develop this skill, I teach them to let go of any critical or judgmental thoughts about the treatment process,” Dr. Kinsinger says. “That’s why it’s so important to work with a qualified mental health professional who understands the nuances of this treatment so patients can fully benefit.”
She also says it’s important not to think of everything as black or white – you can either be hypnotized or you can’t, or it will happen quickly or not. “With the right instruction, you can learn how to hypnotize yourself and benefit even if you’re not a ‘hypnotizable’ person,” she says. “If you’re moderately hypnotizable and are committed to practicing and using your skills, you can benefit greatly.”
This article was first published on April 16, 2020 and last updated on May 7, 2020.
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