Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for IBS

I have to admit my original understanding of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has just been blown out of the water!

Until I started researching for this article, I always believed that Cognitive Behavior Therapy consisted of nothing more than just gradually exposing you to your fears.

I always assumed that if you were being treated for, say, a fear of spiders, then it's logical to assume that a gradual desensitization process would work, but how on earth could it work for IBS?

My biggest fear is travelling as a passenger in a vehicle, because of the unpredictability of my IBS.

Now, I don't care how many baby-steps we take in exposing me to a short car journey, if you catch me on a bad IBS day, there's gonna be an accident, and I'm not talking about crashing the car!

It's the very unpredictable nature of IBS that has, until now, made me assume Cognitive Behavior Therapy is not the kind of therapy that can help.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is genuinely helping some IBS sufferers
Recent studies have shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been successful for many people in reducing the symptoms of IBS , increasing quality of life and lowering the overall stress levels that can be contributing to the IBS symptoms.

It is suggested that many of the IBS sufferers who have sought Cognitive Behavior Therapy for IBS, may have had some psychological issues such as anxiety or mood disorder.

Using Cognitive Behavior Therapy to address these issues also addresses the underlying processes that can contribute towards IBS symptoms.

For the duration of the treatment which seems to be done as a course over a twelve week period, patients are encouraged to monitor their IBS symptoms every day in a diary.

This in turn gives then a calmer, less anxious approach where their thoughts are less likely to trigger, or at least contribute, towards further symptoms of IBS.

During a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy course, the patient is trained to realise that when an IBS attack occurs they have been armed with the mental tools to deal with it in a much calmer, rational way.

Being able to reduce or minimise anxiety levels during an IBS attack means that their own anxieties are no longer adding-to or compounding the attack, and as a result, the IBS attacks, and subsequent events, can be reduced in severity and duration.

IBS sufferers whose symptoms are purely physiological, will generally disagree with the suggestion of IBS being a product of the mind, and for the most-part they are right.

IBS, contrary to popular belief particularly by non-IBS sufferers, is not "all in the mind."

However, for many IBS sufferers, myself included, the condition is underpinned by multiple elements, some or many of which are shaped around our thought processes.

Be it anxiety or stress, or just apprehension about the next IBS attack, the mind is involved whether we like it or not.

At the very least IBS is simply stressful to live with, and that alone can add to the symptoms.

Conclusion
Although further scientific and statistical study is warranted, it looks like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy could be a viable option for many IBS sufferers.

At the moment, there appears to be a shortage of Cognitive Behavior Therapy practitioners, hopefully this will change with time.