Development of Self-administrable Psychological Intervention Programs Supported by New Technologies as a Treatment for Patients With Functional Digestive Disorders.

Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) are produced by disturbances in the interplay between the gut and the central nervous system. Several psychological factors like anxiety, depression and altered coping are over-represented in these disorders. Recent surveys have shown that DGBI affect up to 40 % of the general population. Psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis have been shown to be beneficial for managing these disorders. However, access to psychological interventions is very limited due to lack of resources to treat these very frequent conditions. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of psychological interventions using specifically developed therapeutic programs based on virtual reality, for telematic use at home, on symptoms severity, comorbidities, visceral sensitivity and intestinal dysbiosis in patients with DGBI. METHODOLOGY: After development of a program of psycho-education on DGBI using interactive immersion by means of virtual reality (VR) a randomized clinical trial will be developed. Consecutive patients will be randomized 1:1 to active treatment or placebo. In each patient in the active treatment group a session of psychoeducation using specifically developed VR-video leaded by a gastroenterologists, will be followed by telematic weekly group sessions of psycho-education leaded by a psychologist. During the 6 weeks of the treatment period patients will be instructed to perform self-administrable sessions of psychotherapy at home (by means VR). Patients in the placebo group willl take a placebo capsule daily. OUTCOME MEASURES. In all patients, severity of symptoms (primary outcome), QoL, somatic and psychological comorbidities (using specific questionnaires), visceral sensitivity (by means of a barostat) and microbiota analysis, will be performed before and at the end of the treatment period. Symptom severity will be assess also in follow-up phone calls at 3 and 6 months.