# Eric - new UNC digest



## Lauralee (Jan 4, 2002)

I just got the Fall 2003 Digest in the mail. On page 8, the article on the bottom of the page talks about hypnosis as used in IBS. I have no way to post the whole article or I would and I really hate to take the following out of context, but here it is anyway...The article states that "high anxiety scores...predicted poor outcome", and "It mostly benefits patients with little or no anxiety". This seems to be contradictory to what we have seen in people who have told their stories here. What are your views on this?


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

lauralee, I have not gotten that issue yet, but knew about this study.Perhaps Dr Palsson will comment here on this if possible.I am not sure why they found that really although I can think of many reasons off hand.I know this is not the same as the program most people use here. Perhaps that has something to do with it, but many other factors may also. I can think of a lot actually that consist of a wide range of reasons, that have nothing to do with methods.However, in the same respect in regards to methods, it also would not be professional to compare methods without control trials and clinical research to make any comments on differences in methods or outcomes. This is the abstract to the study.Hypnosis home treatment for irritable bowel syndrome IBS: exploratory studyOlafur S. Palsson , William E. Whitehead and Marsha J. Turner Purpose: Gut-directed hypnosis often improves IBS, but its reliance on specialized therapists and the costs of multiple treatment visits keep it unavailable to most patients. We previously found in two studies Dig Dis Sci 2002;47:2605ï¿½2614 that a standardized protocol using verbatim hypnosis scripts improves all central IBS symptoms in the majority of treated patients. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a previously standardized hypnosis protocol in reducing IBS symptoms and improving quality of life QOL and psychological well-being, when used at home without a therapist, compared to standard medical treatment.Methods: Nineteen IBS patients Rome II criteria + physician diagnosis; mean age 43.1 years; 15 females completed a 3-month hypnosis home treatment course via audio compact disc recordings 7 biweekly 30ï¿½40 min. sessions plus daily 13 min. session. All instructions and symptom assessments were completed through mail and the internet, and included the validated IBS Severity Index IBSS; Aliment Pharmacol Ther 1997; 11:395ï¿½402, Brief Symptom Inventory -18 (BSI-18; NCS Pearson, Inc. and IBS-QOL Dig Dis Sci 1998;43:400ï¿½11 before and after treatment, and IBSS and IBS-QOL at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Controls were 57 Rome II IBS patients from a separate study, age and gender matched 3 to1 matching and identical in mean IBS severity to the hypnosis subjects. The controls completed the same outcome measures as the hypnosis subjects 6 months apart but received only standard medical care.Results: Ten of 19 hypnosis subjects 53% responded to treatment by 3-month follow-up judged by a stringent criterion of μ≥ 50% reduction in IBS symptom severity vs. 15/57 26% of controls Chi-square p<.05. Hypnosis subjects improved more in their QOL scores compared to controls p<.0001. Anxiety scores, but not other psychological variables, were higher in hypnosis non-responders than in responders prior to treatment, and predicted poor outcome: 1/7 anxious BSI anxiety score μ≥ 5 vs. 9/12 non-anxious subjects were responders. BSI somatization improved in hypnosis responders p=.<05, but no BSI changes were seen in non-responders or controls. All treatment responders remained improved at 6-month follow-up.Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that hypnosis audio home treatment may be useful in IBS management, perhaps doubling the proportion of patients improving across 6 months, and warrants further research in light of its low cost and wide potential applicability. It mostly benefits non-anxious patients.Affiliations:Chapel Hill, NC, USA. http://www.medicinedirect.com/journal/jour...ypnosis+and+ibs It is my opionin that more studies like this need to be done to better claify some of these issues. I would also like to know personally if those people did improve, just not as much as the others. I have a lot of questions also.







I personally believe it should be view as the preliminary study it is and more studies should be done. It also should be noted, that half got better and that is still a very good thing, compared to less then half under standard medical care. Every single IBSer that gets better is a good thing in my book.


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## Lauralee (Jan 4, 2002)

I agree that anyone getting better regardless of what caused the imrpovement is a good thing!







Thanks for posting the study, if you learn any more about this, please let us know. Thanks!!!!!


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