Behavioural therapies may be effective at treating irritable bowel syndrome

New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Behavioural therapies may be effective for treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) -- an intestinal disorder causing pain in the stomach -- according to a study on Friday.

IBS affects around 5 per cent of people worldwide and is characterised by abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.

There is no cure, and treatments such as diet changes and medications often only provide partial relief of symptoms; therefore, medical guidelines also recommend considering behavioural therapies.

The study, published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, showed that brain-gut behaviour therapies, including forms of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and gut-directed hypnotherapy (GDH), can be effective.

“The study highlights the potential of brain-gut behavioural therapies such as CBT and GDH as treatment options for managing IBS,” said Prof Alexander C Ford, corresponding author, from the University of Leeds, UK.

CBT enables patients to change how they think and act to manage and accept their symptoms, while in gut-directed hypnotherapy, people are put into a trance-like state before receiving suggestions that their symptoms are improving.

“However, current confidence is limited, particularly for behavioural therapies not classified as brain-gut behavioural therapies,” Ford said.

This includes therapies such as contingency management (using rewards to reinforce desired actions) or stress-reduction techniques, said the researchers.

The global study, also including researchers from Canada and the US, builds on a previous 2020 meta-analysis and includes a total of 67 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 7,441 participants.

The review compared the effectiveness of behavioural therapies against various controls, such as receiving education, dietary advice, or routine care, as well as against each other.

CBT and gut-directed hypnotherapy -- delivered either in-person or via an app or the internet -- were found to be more effective than standard treatments, based on the participants comparing their symptoms before and after.

The researchers called for larger, more rigorous RCTs to be conducted to confirm the effectiveness of different behavioural therapies and to identify which patients are most likely to benefit.