Hypnotherapy for IBS
Relax your mind and your gut
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common disorders of the digestive system. It affects one third of people in the UK at some point and to some extent, and one in ten people have symptoms bad enough to visit their doctor. IBS is characterised by a collection of symptoms affecting the small or large bowel, which can cause pain and discomfort.
The exact causes of IBS are unknown. IBS sufferers usually have no physical abnormalities in the bowel, so it has been suggested that there is a strong link between stress and IBS. What seems to happen with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is that the bowel becomes super sensitive and responds with violent contractions or spasms to stimuli such as stress or simply eating a meal. It is these responses that we can alleviate using hypnotherapy for IBS.
for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome include abdominal pain, diarrhoea, abdominal discomfort, abdominal distension, constipation, or an otherwise unexplained change in bowel movements. Hypnotherapy for IBS can help with the symptoms, but diagnosis should always be confirmed by a qualified medical practitioner before seeking treatment from us.
How can hypnotherapy for IBS help?
IBS can often be stress triggered, i.e. stress is the stimuli which sets off the spasms, cramps or other reactions affecting the small or large bowel.
Hypnotherapy for IBS could help in the following ways:
- Helping you to relax, easing the symptoms if they are triggered by stress.
- Teaching you powerful creative visualisation techniques to imagine relief for your symptoms.
- Programming in a new, positive reaction to stress triggers.
Thanks largely to the research of Professor Peter Whorwell of Wythenshawe University Hospital, Manchester, hypnotherapy is now acknowledged by the medical profession as an effective treatment for IBS. Our hypnotherapy treatment is based completely on his work.
It is well known that there is a strong link between anxiety and IBS and most suffers report that the symptoms of IBS are related to stress.
Other names for IBS
- Irritable colon.
- Spastic colon.
- Mucous colitis.
These names are misleading because IBS is not limited to the colon.
Your bowel, or gut, extends from your stomach to your anus. It is made up of the small intestine and the large intestine. Their job is to process food from the stomach.
The normal bowel moves food along the intestines through muscular contractions, known as propulsion. There are also areas of hold-up, known as segmentation.
This combination of propulsion and segmentation is called peristalsis. You are completely unaware of it when it is working normally. The control of peristalsis is complex. The best way to regard IBS is as a loss of coordination of these muscular contractions. by using hypnotherapy for IBS we help you get back in control of the peristalsis process speeding it up or slowing it down depending on what is needed.
In addition, there is evidence that people with irritable bowel syndrome have increased sensitivity within the gut to external stimuli such as stress. This means IBS is often the outcome of a complex interaction between psychological and physical factors. With hypnotherapy for IBS we aim to reduce the sensitivity within the gut.
A disorder of the digestive system can affect the gut anywhere from the mouth to the anus, which accounts for the diversity of symptoms seen in IBS. However your IBS affects you we will use hypnotherapy for IBS to address any symptoms.