Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Gastroenterol.
Sec. Therapy in Gastroenterology
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgstr.2024.1342888

Stress reduction and psychological therapy for IBS: a scoping review

Provisionally accepted
Anjali J. Fernandes Anjali J. Fernandes Anna L. Farrell Anna L. Farrell Sara V. Naveh Sara V. Naveh SUBHANKAR CHAKRABORTY SUBHANKAR CHAKRABORTY *
  • The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent functional gastrointestinal disease that is commonly associated with psychological comorbidities and maladaptive thought patterns. Previous studies report psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and gut-directed therapy (GDP) improve IBS symptom management and quality of life. This review seeks to understand the effectiveness of various psychotherapies across delivery methods for patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Methods: A scoping literature review of PubMed articles highlighting psychological and stress reduction treatments for IBS was conducted. 120 studies were included in the title and abstract screening. 32 studies were selected for full text review. Primary and secondary research studies that investigated the benefit of psychological therapies focusing on stress reduction and cognitive therapies for patients with gastrointestinal condition's symptom relief met inclusion criteria for the review. 12 studies were selected for inclusion. Results: All 12 reviewed studies reported statistically significant improvements in IBS symptoms with psychological therapies. 8 studies also addressed quality of life and reported statistically significant improvement in intervention groups. 3 studies demonstrated persistent improvement after 12 months. 2 studies compared different types of psychotherapies and reported improvements compared to control groups but no significant differences between psychotherapies. 6 studies that compared face to face therapy with minimal contact or telephone therapy showed no difference in clinical outcomes. Discussion: Psychological therapies demonstrate reported statistically significant improvements in IBS symptoms and patient quality of life with no reported statistically significant difference across forms of healthcare delivery. Most improvements reportedly persist long-term. Further research with a broader demographic base is needed to assess the economic costs of psychological therapies and their implications for underserved communities.

    Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Psychotherapy, stress reduction, Quality of Life, cbt

    Received: 22 Nov 2023; Accepted: 11 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fernandes, Farrell, Naveh and CHAKRABORTY. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: SUBHANKAR CHAKRABORTY, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.