MIND-GUT AXIS NERD ALERT!
MIND-GUT AXIS NERD ALERT!
By Jed Foster
Check out this exciting GI news out of Loyola. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Kinsinger speak at the Symposium on Disorders of the Mind-Gut Interaction in October and I love hearing about the ongoing research into the efficacy of gut-directed hypnotherapy for a wider range of GI diagnoses.
Dr. Kinsinger states that brain-gut therapies such as hypnotherapy can be helpful for conditions like functional dyspepsia because they use the mind to restore normal communication patterns between the brain and the gut and prevent stress from aggravating symptoms.
“Functional dyspepsia is a difficult condition to treat and the symptoms have a significant impact on patients’ quality of life,” Kinsinger said. “Hypnotherapy is an exciting and promising approach and may be effective for many patients that have failed other treatments, because it works through a different mechanism by influencing the brain-gut axis.”
Throughout history, hypnotherapy has been utilized as a tool for pain management. In the 1800s, some surgeons would use hypnotherapy in place of anesthesia for surgeries. In 1984, a landmark study showed that patients with severe irritable bowel syndrome had dramatic improvements in their digestive symptoms after participating in a course of hypnotherapy treatment. There is now over 30 years of research demonstrating that hypnotherapy is an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. This approach also shows promise for functional dyspepsia, which has many overlapping features with irritable bowel syndrome.
At CGH, we’ve seen firsthand how effective gut-directed hypnotherapy can be for IBS and other patients with functional/nerve hypersensitivity GI conditions. Give me and Dr. Troy a call and schedule a consultation to see if gut-directed hypnotherapy is a good option for you!