# Audiotape Hypnotherapy Treats Irritable Bowel



## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

The URL for this article is: http://www.medscape.com/jobson/MedTrib/199...0.n11/DDW4.html FromMedical Tribune Audiotape Hypnotherapy Treats Irritable Bowel[Medical Tribune 40(11):13, 1999. ï¿½]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------ORLANDO, FL-A three-month course of self-administered audiotape hypnotherapy improved symptoms in 57 perhaps of patients who were being treated for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a study presented here at the Digestive Disease Week meeting last month. In-person hypnotherapy improved symptoms 67 percent.Alastair Forbes, M.D., and his colleagues at St. Mark's Hospital in London, England, tested audiotaped or in-person hypnotherapy sessions on 52 IBS patients who had not been helped by dietary or drug therapies. The researchers wanted to see if audiotape hypnotherapy is a realistic alternative to in-person therapy, which is more expensive. In this study improved symptoms in 67 percent of the patients.Twenty-seven of the patients were treated with audiotapes and 25 received in-person hypnotherapy. Patients using the audiotapes were told to listen to them daily. They met with a clinician after six weeks of treatment and at the end of the three-month course.The audiotapes were 30 minutes long and included standard relaxation techniques and visualization exercises.The team found that the tapes worked nearly as well as individual hypnotherapy sessions. After three months, symptoms improved in 67 percent of in-person hypnotherapy patients and 57 percent of those hypnotized by audiotape.The patients' average age was 37. The duration of their symptoms ranged from eight months to 40 years.Another group at the meeting, led by Wendy Gonsalkorale, M.D., reported a 25 percent improvement in symptoms in 75 percent of patients given hypnotherapy. Dr. Gonsalkorale is the manager of the hypnotherapy unit at the University Hospital of South Manchester. "Our groups are arriving at very similar results" she said. "Hypnotherapy is clearly very useful in patients who aren't being helped by more conventional treatments."


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