Hypnose bij prikkelbare darm klachten

In het juni nummer (2008) van het tijdschrift voor psychosomatisch onderzoek staat een overzicht over de waarde van hypnotherapie bij IBS, irritable bowel disorder, oftewel het prikkelbare darmsyndroom. De auteur, die aan een Engelse universteit werkt, heeft in zijn vakgroep jarenlang ervarng opgebouwd met zogenaamde darm-gerichte hypnotherapie bij het prikkelbare darmsymdroom. Hij schrijft daarover:

For a number of years, our group has been researching the possibility that hypnotherapy may be useful in aiding the management of functional bowel disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and that this can be achieved by specifically targeting the gastrointestinal system. As a consequence, we have developed the technique of ‘gut-focused hypnosis,’ which is based on patients being given a simple tutorial about some of the pathophysiological concepts surrounding their IBS and how these might be normalised by the technique.

Deze techniek wordt in 12 weken aangeleerd, door wekelijkse trainingen, terwijl de patient elke dag thuis oefent met een CD.

Een klinische studie in het verleden liet duidelijke resultaten zien, en van 250 gevallen documenteerden de onderzoekers, volgend op die studie, de effecten. Deze effecten bleven duidelijk bestaan.

Ook effectief voor andere klachten 

In de groep patienten met IBS bleek dat ook heel veel patienten last hadden van een allerlei andere symptomen, tot en met fibromyalgie. Ook de niet-darm gerelateerde klachten namen na de hypnotherapie duidelijk in ernst af!

Over the years, it has also become apparent that, in addition to suffering noncolonic symptoms, patients with IBS overlap symptomatically with individuals with other functional syndromes such as functional dyspepsia, noncardiac chest pain, and fibromyalgia. Consequently, IBS patients can present with a whole range of symptoms that are notoriously difficult to treat. It is therefore of considerable interest that in our 250-patient audit of the effects of hypnotherapy in IBS referred to earlier, every single one of the noncolonic symptoms recorded in this study showed significant improvement following treatment, despite the fact that these symptoms were not specifically targeted.

De conclusie is dat hypnotherapie goed inzetbaar is: 

Thus, there appears to be good evidence that hypnosis can influence a wide range of factors, including psychological status, gastrointestinal physiology, immune function, and inflammation, as well as its well-known effects on pain. This might help explain why it is particularly suited to aiding the management of functional gastrointestinal disorders, which are not only multifactorial in causation but also polysymptomatic in nature.

However, hypnotherapy should be viewed as an adjunctive treatment rather than as a replacement for conventional approaches, such as the appropriate use of antispasmodics, laxatives, antidiarrhoeals, or dietary manipulation. For instance, the consumption of large amounts of insoluble fibre such as bran can significantly exacerbate the symptoms of IBS, and consequently, it would be inappropriate to use hypnotherapy before trying an exclusion of insoluble fibre. 

Boeiend is dat de auteur net zoals in de ayurveda het gebruik van onoplosbare vezels afraadt. (zie onder)

In: 

 Peter J. Whorwel  Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: The response of colonic and noncolonic symptoms. Journal of Psychosomatic ResearchVolume 64, Issue 6, June 2008, Pages 621-623

 

Bronnen 

WM Gonsalkorale, LA Houghton and PJ Whorwell, Hypnotherapy in irritable bowel syndrome: a large-scale audit of a clinical service with examination of factors influencing responsiveness, Am J Gastroenterol 97 (2002), pp. 954–961. 

CY Francis and PJ Whorwell, Bran and irritable bowel syndrome: time for reappraisal, Lancet 344 (1994), pp. 39–40.