by Olafur S. Palsson, Psy. D.
Hypnosis is only one of several approaches to treating irritable bowel syndrome and may not be the most suitable option for all patients. However, hypnosis treatment has some advantages which makes it a good option for many IBS sufferers with chronic and severe symptoms:

• It is one of the most successful treatment approaches for chronic IBS. The response rate to treatment is 80% and better in most published studies to date.
• The treatment often helps individuals who have failed to get improvements with other methods.
• It is a uniquely comfortable form of treatment; relaxing, easy and generally enjoyable.
• It utilizes the healing power of the person's own mind, and is generally completely without negative side effects.
• The treatment sometimes results in improvement in other symptoms or problems such as migraine or tension headaches, along with the improvement in IBS symptoms.
• The main theory behind the success of hypnosis for IBS is that the relaxation improves blood flow to the gut - something that stress tends to inhibit - and so improves digestion and the movement of food through the bowel.

Hypnosis has been so successful for improving IBS symptoms that Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD, chair of the National Women's Health Network in Washington, DC, says that hypnosis should be the treatment of choice for IBS cases which have not responded to conventional therapy.