Using gut-directed hypnotherapy to treat IBS can have long-lasting effects.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could send a message to soothe your digestive tract when you have a stomach ache or bathroom issues?
Medical centers in the United States are beginning to do just that, using “gut-directed hypnotherapy” to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and ulcerative colitis.
They specifically treat IBS because up to half of IBS patients are dissatisfied with the results of standard medical management and continue to have frequent symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and sharp stabbing pain. Looking for new options to. Abdominal pain or persistent pain.
Anna*’s irritable bowel syndrome symptoms had become so unpredictable that she was afraid to book travel. She said: “When I filled out her symptom checklist, I broke down in tears and realized how much IBS had taken over my life.”
Nine months after completing MetaMe Connect, an online hypnotherapy program, Anna says she is back to “normalcy.” She can now make her plans in advance without worrying that she will become unwell. “I have no fear and I don’t make decisions based on fear,” she said.
Because IBS is so difficult to treat, gut-targeted hypnotherapy programs have spread across the country over the past decade.
Mount Sinai in New York, the University of Michigan, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the University of Washington in Seattle, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and Loyola University Medical Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the Chicago area currently offer hypnotherapy. offering or suggesting. For IBS patients.
Gut-directed hypnotherapy is a type of hypnosis. Patients can meet with a therapist in person or via video conference, or listen to recordings that guide them step-by-step into a relaxed state.
Once a patient enters a hypnotic state, they undergo visualization training and hear suggestions designed to calm their digestive tract and take them away from focusing on gut sensations.
Unlike meditation tapes that everyone picks up, this treatment is standardized and tested. This is the main reason why this treatment has been accepted by gastroenterologists at major hospitals.
More than 20 years ago, Dr. Olafur Palsson, a clinical psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began using a specific set of scripts in his protocols, which have now been extensively studied.
Depending on the trial, 53 to 94 percent of IBS patients respond to treatment, with effects lasting up to a year.
This therapy addresses a problem that appears to accompany some gastrointestinal diseases: miscommunication between the gut and the brain. The smooth muscle of the intestinal wall can become overreactive and change its normal muscle contraction pattern. Additionally, your brain may be misinterpreting normal signals from your gut.
This disconnect between the gut and brain can cause a variety of IBS symptoms and contribute to other problems as well.
For example, recent early research suggests that hypnotherapy can:
Hypnosis is the most effective treatment for abdominal pain, with many studies finding it to reduce abdominal pain by more than half on average.
“This is not a psychological problem, it’s a neurological problem,” observes Daniel Bernstein, who has Crohn’s disease and founded metaMe Connect. He says, “You’re retraining how your brain and gut communicate.”
Many people suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms but never tell their doctor. It’s common to try a number of treatments on your own, including probiotics, avoiding spicy foods, and going gluten-free.
But after a close call or two where they can barely make it to the bathroom, people begin to reorganize their lives to avoid the crisis.
Anna’s experience of growing fear is common.
“What I was trying to do wasn’t working and it just seemed to come out of nowhere,” she explained.
Over time, that fear makes the problem worse, especially during times of stress.
Receiving a diagnosis is a step toward effective support. To diagnose irritable bowel syndrome, which is estimated to affect up to 15 percent of U.S. adults, doctors look for the following signs: Frequent abdominal pain for at least 3 months that relieves after defecation, originally caused by a change in the frequency or quality of the abdominal pain. your flight.
IBS also tends to develop after gastroenteritis or antibiotics.
Blood in the stool, weight loss, fever, or anemia suggest other possible diagnoses. If you have these symptoms, you should be tested for autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease, colitis, and celiac disease. Radiological tests may also be done to check for tumors in the abdomen.
By definition, IBS does not have one clear cause. But new science suggests possible factors such as genetic variations and changes in the gut microbiome in subgroups of patients, Palsson noted.
One of the more common treatments is a low FODMAP diet, which eliminates gluten as well as many vegetables and fruits. FODMAPS stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, and refers to all molecules found in foods.
in 2016
This program takes three months to complete and requires daily attention. The patient receives a 15-minute recording of her, which he can listen to every day or at least 5 times a week.
I also have seven 40-minute sessions with a therapist (in person or via video conference) every two weeks.
During the session, listeners are invited into a fictional environment and imagine a variety of things, including a mountain hut with thick, strong walls that “keep you comfortable and safe inside, no matter how fierce the winter storm is outside.” You will be asked to reminisce. ” Scripts also give you the reassurance that you don’t have to succeed at visualizing, you just need to experience what you can.
This script does not directly address diarrhea, constipation, or any other symptoms. Instead, they describe their goals with suggestions such as: “Every day you will become more comfortable and healthy, and you will be able to live in peace, undisturbed and like this beautiful secluded garden.”
Hypnosis doesn’t seem strange to an observer, but listening to the script in privacy without the risk of being interrupted is ideal. After a trance, people are fully awake and can listen at any time of the day.
The imaginative play makes this program ideal for children with digestive disorders, usually unexplained abdominal pain.
Infants with colic, young children with heartburn, and children with chronic unexplained diarrhea or constipation that is sometimes accompanied by nausea, dizziness, and pain may have IBS.
His colleague, Dr. Miranda van Tilburg, worked with Palsson to develop a short protocol designed to be used at home with children ages 6 to 12.
These sessions invite listeners to float above the clouds, float across the ocean in a gently rocking boat, or take control of their minds and fly down a magic carpet. Short sessions include sliding down slides, riding swings, sledding through snowy mountains, and bouncing on the moon.
Children often rub their sore tummies or ask for a heating pad, so the children’s tape contains a bright, shiny, jewel-like object with magical healing properties that melts into your hands like butter and heals you. It is drawn.
In another tape, children hear that their favorite drink creates a protective coating on their stomachs, which gets thicker with each drink.
Six months after completion, the researchers reported that more than 60 percent of children who took the program had their symptoms reduced by at least half and maintained improvement in symptoms, noting that “all children suffering from both abdominal pain and headaches Most children reported improvements in both.”
Additionally, many parents reported improved sleep and concentration at school. ”
Apart from that, the Dutch
One of the appeals of the North Carolina protocol is that it is designed to accommodate a wide variety of patients, with or without diarrhea, constipation, or pain. For hypnotherapy to be successful, the patient does not need to be particularly receptive to suggestions.
However, anxiety is a disadvantage. “Hypnosis can help people feel less anxious about their symptoms than someone who spends time in their head, avoiding the situation, or worrying about how to heal themselves, but actually physically It works best for people who are feeling it,” explained Laurie Kiefer. Ph.D., director of psychobehavioral research at Mount Sinai Gastroenterology in New York.
The second group may be better served by cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which teaches people how to change their habits of mind.
Also, being skeptical or depressed can make hypnotherapy more difficult. “You have to be open to it,” Kiefer said. “People with depression or anxiety tend to struggle with it, and therapists work to address those barriers. At the beginning of each long session, do breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation techniques. That would be good.”
Another drawback is that the three-month program requires patience.
“Most patients don’t see progress until the fourth or fifth session, and sometimes even later,” Bernstein notes.
But Kiefer points out that researchers are looking at ways to shorten the program.
To find a local practitioner who uses the North Carolina model, check out the ibshyptosis.com site.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
