Hypnosis Works - Middlebury, Vermont; Bristol, Vermont; & Burlington, Vermont
Kerry K. Skiffington, PhD, DHyp, CHt
Clinical Hypnotherapist
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Let the Mind Help Tame an Irritable Bowel
By JANE E. BRODY
New York Times
Published: September 1, 2008
If you've ever had butterflies in your stomach or an attack of nerves that sent you racing for the bathroom, you already know that the intestinal tract has a mind of its own. The millions who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, or I.B.S., perhaps know it best.
I.B.S., with its symptoms of bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence, diarrhea or constipation or an alternating cycle of the two, can seriously impair the ability to work and enjoy leisure activities. Up to 15 percent of the population is affected, though only half seek medical help.
The gut and brain are intimately connected, with more nerve cells in the intestines than in the central nervous system. The gut has been called the body's second brain, containing 95 percent of the body's neurotransmitter serotonin and direct nerve connections to the brain.
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Dr. Charles D. Gerson, a gastroenterologist affiliated with Mount Sinai Medical Center, works with his wife, Mary-Joan Gerson, a psychotherapist, and their daughter, Jessica, a hypnotherapist, at the Mind-Body Digestive Center in New York.
Dr. Gerson said in an interview that for patients who are seriously impaired by I.B.S., medications help but "there is no magic pill that solves the whole problem. Patients need a more holistic approach. Those who accept emotional as well as physical causes of their condition do better."
While it is destructive for patients with I.B.S. to be told it is all in their heads, it is also wrong to ignore the psychosocial factors that play a role, he said.
"I tell patients that if they don't deal with the emotional factors that relate to their problem," Dr. Gerson said, "they are likely to continue to have symptoms."
New Ways of Thinking
Personal relationships can have a major impact. Symptoms are worse if there is conflict in the family, better if relationships are supportive, the Gersons have found. When a person is in a bad marriage, divorce can become a cure.
The brain has the ability to inhibit sensations from the gut. But, as Dr. Gerson put it, "I.B.S. patients tend to be hypervigilant -- too aware of what is going on in their gut." Through techniques like hypnotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is possible to change how the brain perceives what is happening in the body.
In hypnotherapy, patients learn to visualize their colon as functioning more normally. In cognitive-behavioral therapy or short-term psychotherapy, patients can learn to change symptom-provoking beliefs, like thinking that their colon will always be abnormal or that a given circumstance will provoke symptoms.
In a British study of 204 patients in which more than two-thirds of them were initially helped by hypnotherapy, 81 percent of those maintained the improvement up to six years after the treatment. Learning to practice stress-reduction and relaxation techniques can be as helpful as learning which foods to avoid.
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