CHICAGO — Digital gut-directed hypnotherapy resulted in greater improvement in abdominal pain and stool symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome compared with digital muscle relaxation, according to research.
“This study demonstrates that an FDA-approved, digital therapeutic that delivers gut-directed hypnotherapy improved abdominal pain and bowel habits in around a third [of patients] and provided adequate relief of GI symptoms in nearly two-thirds of IBS patients,” William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, FACG, FACP, RFF, H. Marvin Pollard Professor of Gastroenterology and chief of the division of gastroenterology at Michigan Medicine, told Healio. “GDH delivered by the mobile app led to improvements that were similar to muscle relaxation delivered by a mobile app.”