Psychotherapy May Have Lasting Benefits for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
An article in the New York Times by Nicholas Bakalar highlighted the findings of a recent medical article about psychotherapy in IBS. The publication was published in a major GI journal, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. What is important about this article? Various forms of psychotherapy including psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and hypnotherapy were all beneficial in reducing IBS symptoms. (read more)posted on March 02, 2016
IBS and Diagnostic Procedures
At the MBDC, we gave become concerned about the number of unnecessary procedures performed on patients with IBS. Most patients seen at our Center have been under the care of other gastroenterologists. One of the questions we ask them to describe is the diagnostic procedures they have had. This includes colonoscopy, gastroscopy, capsule endoscopy of the small intestine and CT scan of the abdomen. (read more)posted on May 21, 2014
Mindfulness Meditation and IBS
Psychological interventions have proved to be successful treatments for IBS, by reducing both bowel symptoms and associated psychological symptoms and are often more effective than usual medical care. Psychological treatments may work, at least in part, by helping to regulate mind-body interactions. Recently, a study of “mindfulness,” a mind-calming Buddhist practice founded over 2500 years ago, was shown to help improve the lives of women suffering from IBS. (read more)posted on May 06, 2013
Is there a relationship between early childhood trauma and Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
Over the past 20 years, a number of articles have reported that people who suffer traumatic experience in childhood, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse, suffer negative health effects in adulthood.… (read more)posted on January 21, 2013
Patient Reported Outcomes
Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) is a new trend in patient care in which patients track their own illness to help better understand illness progress. MBDC has recently instituted a personalized… (read more)posted on September 14, 2012
How Satisfied are IBS Patients with their Physician Visits?
A recent research article described a new questionnaire designed to measure the level of IBS patient satisfaction with visits to their physician. What was the main reason for patient dissatisfaction? (read more)posted on March 21, 2012
A History of Abuse in Nicaragua is Associated with an Increased Incidence of IBS
A recent research study in Nicaragua, with the participation of 1000 women, showed very clearly that a history of abuse (physical and sexual) was associated with an increased frequency of… (read more)posted on November 07, 2011
Physical Exercise Helps IBS!
While physical exercise is recommended to everyone as an important health habit with both physical and mental benefits, it is difficult to find proof of those benefits. In a recent… (read more)posted on October 06, 2011
How Patients Lose When Psychologists Are Not Involved in Medical Care
Health care costs are exploding and one silent factor in containing costs is rarely mentioned: the under-utilization of psychological services. The evidence is clear and has been for three decades. (read more)posted on October 03, 2011
Be Your Own Investigator
When I see patients in my office for consultation, one of the most important concepts I try to convey is that every patient has to become his or her own… (read more)posted on July 22, 2011
The Placebo Effect and IBS
Placebo treatment has won new respect in the medical literature, and recently, its story has became even more complicated. (read more)posted on April 29, 2011
How Am I Doing?
This is a question that IBS patients should be asking themselves, but it may be hard for them to get a yardstick by which to measure their progress. (read more)posted on April 12, 2011
When Should an IBS Patient Be Referred to a Mental Health Professional?
Many IBS patients do not improve significantly despite the best efforts of their physicians. This is not the fault of the doctor. IBS is a complex illness; physical symptoms can… (read more)posted on March 03, 2011
A Bhutanese Journey
In October 2010, Drs. Charles and Mary-Joan Gerson visited Bhutan, the last surviving Buddhist Himalayan kingdom. Our experience there underlined our belief in mind-body connections. We were struck by the… (read more)posted on January 06, 2011
Knowledge is Power
One of the things we notice with our IBS patients at the MBDC is that they may start to feel better just from gaining a better understanding of their condition.… (read more)posted on November 03, 2010
Hypnotherapy and Imagery
At the Mind-Body Digestive Center, we have found that our group hypnotherapy program has been very successful in reducing IBS symptoms in our patients. This blog entry describes a recent… (read more)posted on July 12, 2010
Why can’t doctors and patients understand each other?
Research demonstrates a serious communication gap between patients with functional GI illness like IBS and their physicians who tend to underestimate how much patients are suffering. (read more)posted on April 16, 2010