Brain-Gut Connection and IBS
If you’re one of the millions of people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you may be aware that stress and anxiety can deeply affect your gut and sense of wellbeing. IBS is categorized as a disorder of the gut-brain interaction (DGBI),1 which means that there’s a disconnection between how your brain and gut are communicating with each other. You might have felt those familiar butterflies in your stomach before a presentation or experienced that sinking feeling in your gut when fear or anxiety kicks in. These sensations highlight the strong connection between our emotions, thoughts, and digestion.
Interestingly, the gut is often called our second brain, as it has its own intelligence system with more than 100 million neurons,2 capable of functioning independently from the brain. While many people think that IBS can be managed through diet alone, treatment is typically more complex. Understanding this brain-gut axis could be the missing key in alleviating your IBS symptoms and finally regaining control of your gut health.
What is IBS?
Irritable bowel syndrome is a common gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that can severely impact quality of life. It’s often linked to stress and anxiety3 and affects the stomach and intestines. Its symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. IBS can lead to food anxiety, depression, feeling isolated, and being overwhelmed by the unpredictability of symptoms. Common ways of managing IBS include dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, stress management, physiotherapy, and medications.
Making changes to your diet provides significant benefits, but doesn’t work for everyone when it comes to reducing symptoms. In the complex and unpredictable realm of IBS, it’s not uncommon for someone to have a negative reaction to a food one day and eat the exact same food another time only to experience no issues. This uncertainty leads to heightened anxiety around food and more restrictions, when the culprit may not have been the food in the first place. This is where understanding the brain-gut connection becomes crucial. By enhancing the communication between our brain and gut, and understanding how our mental and emotional state is affecting our body, we can significantly help reduce symptoms and restore healthy gut function.4
The Brain-Gut Connection & Stress
One of the most intriguing relationships in the body is the connection between the brain and gut through the nervous system. The enteric nervous system (ENS) consists of a mesh-like system of neurons that is responsible for the function of the gastrointestinal tract. The vagus nerve serves as the vital link between the brain and gut. It acts like a communication highway, carrying information between these two complex systems. Our nervous system has two primary responses: the parasympathetic ‘rest and digest’ response and the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ response. When we’re relaxed, our parasympathetic nervous system aids in digestion, but when we’re stressed, our sympathetic nervous system inhibits it.
When stress becomes chronic, it can lead to a communication breakdown. This results in altered gut motility, heightened sensitivity, imbalances in gut bacteria, lowered stomach acid, and even increased permeability of the intestinal epithelium, the lining of the intestinal tract, which can lead to chronic inflammation.4,5 The good news is that by knowing this, we can address it by prioritizing stress management and getting to the root of it using brain-gut behavioural therapies, such as gut-directed hypnotherapy.
What is Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy?
Gut-directed hypnotherapy is a form of hypnosis that directly addresses the miscommunication between the brain and gut to help significantly reduce symptoms of IBS. This evidence-based method5 improves digestion and motility in the gastrointestinal tract, reduces pain and bloating, and calms overactive nerves in the gut. During a session, you are guided into a deeply relaxed and focused state of awareness, calming the body and mind. Once in this state, guided imagery, direct suggestion, and progressive relaxation are used to help soothe the gastrointestinal tract, calm the nervous system, and improve the brain-gut communication. Guided imagery can include visualizing that your stomach and intestines are being bathed in a soothing sense of comfort, while deep relaxation is spreading through every muscle, nerve, and cell in your body.
Hypnotherapy for IBS has nearly 40 years of published peer-reviewed research to support it as one of the most effective treatments. Research has shown that a series of gut-directed hypnotherapy sessions can effectively reduce symptoms by at least 50% in up to 76% of patients.4 These results are also long lasting, as a study in 2003 found that 81% of the patients who responded to hypnotherapy were still enjoying the improvements up to 5 years later.6
For other GI conditions, the evidence is more limited, but promising signs of its therapeutic potential have emerged from certain randomized controlled trials conducted on functional dyspepsia and ulcerative colitis.7 In fact, one study demonstrated a significant effect of gut-directed hypnotherapy on prolonging clinical remission in patients with ulcerative colitis.8
To fully experience the transformative benefits of gut-directed hypnotherapy, it is recommended to engage in a series of 6-12 sessions led by a skilled and trained hypnotherapist specializing in gut-directed hypnotherapy. These sessions are typically conducted on a weekly basis, with the support of additional hypnotherapy recordings to do at home so you can continue your progress between sessions. Sessions can be done virtually, making this form of treatment more accessible worldwide, including for individuals in remote locations and those who have symptoms that make in-person appointments difficult to manage.
Misconceptions About Hypnotherapy
Let’s unravel some misconceptions surrounding hypnotherapy, as it’s often been misunderstood due to its portrayal in stage hypnosis, movies, and TV. Hypnosis does not involve a hypnotist controlling your mind and telling you to act like a chicken or give up your personal information. You are still in control of your own mind and body under hypnosis. Hypnosis, or being in a state of trance, is a natural and common phenomenon that we all experience in our daily lives. Think about those moments when you’ve been totally absorbed in a book or movie, and you completely lost track of time. And who hasn’t embarked on a long drive, only to arrive at the destination with a hazy memory of the journey? Whether you’re daydreaming, or in a flow state, these are all instances of being in a state of trance, a naturally occurring state of mind. In a state of trance, we become more receptive to change. Embracing these states empowers us to make positive shifts in our mindset, while improving our health and prompting new adaptive patterns in the way our bodies respond to IBS symptoms.
Conclusion
The intricate and profound connection between our mind and gut plays an important role in effectively managing IBS. Many people focus on changing what a person with IBS eats but overlook the mind-body aspect. By recognizing the impact of stress and anxiety on gut health, exploring brain-gut behavioural therapies such as gut-directed hypnotherapy, and adopting a holistic approach to healing, people with IBS can discover a renewed sense of hope of getting control back over their lives, and embarking on a journey towards greater freedom and improved quality of life.9