Efficacy of hypnotherapy in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): a systematic review and meta-analysis

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits and has a significant impact on quality of life. The current study aimed to assess the efficacy of hypnotherapy as a management strategy of IBS. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis that depended on randomized controlled trials to achieve the aims of the study. The main outcomes of the current review included abdominal pain reduction, dropout rates, and improved level of quality of life with pooled estimate cacluation for these outcomes using a random-effects model. Sixteen randomized controlled studies were included in the current review. Across studies, 40% to 81% of subjects experienced improvement of abdominal symptoms, with group hypnotherapy frequently matching individual sessions in terms of efficiency. The meta-analysis reported that the pooled rate of dropout among 12 studies was 8.0% with 95% confidence interval between 5% and13.0%. In addition, the strategy is associated with significant improvements in quality of life and reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms. The results of the current review confirm the important role of hypnotherapy as an effective and tolerable intervention for IBS.