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Document: 83
Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: a report commissioned by North
East Thames Regional Health Authority
Vickers A J.
Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: a report commissioned by North East
Thames Regional Health Authority
[London]:[Research Council for Complementary Medicine], 1994,
[7]pp.,
Record status
This record is a structured abstract written by CRD reviewers. The original
has met a set of quality criteria.
Author's objective
To examine whether hypnotherapy is an effective treatment for irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS). Type of intervention
Treatment
Specific interventions included in the review
Hypnotherapy, relaxation therapy and stress management.
Participants included in the review
People with irritable bowel syndrome (n=336) and people with (unspecified)
problems of the gastrointestinal tract (n=106).
Outcomes assessed in the review
Patient assessed scores of abdominal pain, physician assessed pain, abdominal
distension, abnormality of bowel habit, general well-being, anorectal
manometry, diary card scores of disease severity, Spielberger Trait Anxiety
Inventory Scores, and consultation rates.
Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials, controlled trials, and uncontrolled trials.
What sources were searched to identify primary studies?
The Research Council for Complementary Medicine's CISCOM Database was
searched. Personal contact was made with other researchers and citations were
traced.
Criteria on which the validity (or quality) of studies was assessed
Data was recorded on the adequacy of (1) the study population and sample, (2)
the control group, (3) the interventions, (4) the outcome measures, (5)
completeness, and (6) statistical analysis; the internal and external validity
of each study was then assessed.
How were the judgements of validity (or quality) made?
Not stated
How were decisions on the relevence of primary studies made?
Not stated
How was the data extracted from primary studies?
Not stated
Number of studies included
Hypnotherapy and IBS (n=5), relaxation training or stress management and IBS
(n=4), hypnotherapy and the gut (n=4).
How were the studies combined?
A narrative review.
How were differences between studies investigated?
The internal validity of each study was discussed.
Results of the review
The 6 studies focusing on hypnotherapy and IBS had positive outcomes (e.g.
symptom scores were reduced, patients in remission). The one study which
compared individual with group hypnotherapy found improvement in both groups
but no significant difference between individual or group hypnotherapy. The 4
studies focusing on relaxation training or stress management and IBS had
positive outcomes (e.g. improvements in anxiety, pain and bowel function).
The 4 studies which focused on hypnotherapy and the gut had positive outcomes
(e.g. decrease in gastric acid, and in colonic motility).
Was any cost information reported?
No
Author's conclusions
Analysis of the literature suggests that hypnotherapy leads to dramatic
improvements in a high proportion of patients with poorly controlled IBS and
that these improvements are maintained in the medium term. Hypnotherapy would
therefore appear to be an appropriate treatment to offer to patients with IBS
but only to those patients who do not respond to conventional medical
management. However, further research is warranted.
CRD commentary
No information is presented on how the search was carried out, or the years
searched. It is unclear how many of the 13 studies were actually randomised
controlled trials; from the description of studies provided only 3 studies
appear to have used a randomised design, 4 studies some form of control group
and the remaining 6 studies appear not to have a control group.
Subject index terms
Subject indexing assigned by CRD: Therapeutics-; Alternative-medicine;
Colonic-Diseases, Functional-; Hypnosis-; Psychotherapy-
Correspondence address
A J Vickers, Research Council for Complementary Medicine, 60 Great Ormond
Street, London, WC1N 3 JF.
Copyright
University of York, 1998
Database no.: DARE-920000
