Claire Jack Ph.D.
Posted Apr 15, 2020

If you’ve experienced Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a condition which affects the gastrointestinal (GI) system, you’ll know how uncomfortable and disruptive it is. When your symptoms – which may include constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and a feeling of not having fully emptied your bowels – are most severe, you may have to take time off work and avoid certain social situations. Many people with IBS suffer from anxiety, depression, lethargy, and headaches1. So, although it’s not life-threatening, it’s certainly an unpleasant and disruptive condition to live with. 

There’s no single diagnostic test for IBS, with a diagnosis being based on presentation of a combination of symptoms. And there’s no definitive cure, either. Instead, changes to lifestyle and diet – including following a low FODMAP2 diet – can help manage the condition and alleviate the worst of the symptoms. Medication may also be prescribed to control diarrhea, constipation, and bloating. 

One intervention which has been the focus of a considerable body of research in recent years and which is recommended as a treatment for IBS by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK is hypnotherapy. How does hypnotherapy, which works with the mind, help with a condition which affects the gut?

Firstly, we need to understand how the brain-gut axis works, as it plays a crucial role in both the causes and treatment of IBS. Usually, when we think about our brain, we are thinking about the Central Nervous System (CNS), which is made up of the brain and spinal cord. However, it’s also useful to consider the role of the Enteric Nervous System (ENS). The ENS is made up of more than 500 million neurons which control movement, secretions, and blood flow in your gut and is located entirely in the walls of the GI tract. You might think that the CNS and the ENS are performing two separate roles, but in fact they are very closely connected by the vagus nerve which runs from the base of the brain, through the neck, and into the stomach, reaching all the way to the gut. The vagus nerve is like an information super-highway between your gut and brain which sends signals from your gut to your brain and from your brain to your gut3.