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Like acupuncture, hypnotherapy is another popular natural remedy for ISB that many people are turning to. Hypnotherapy allows a person to tap into a special mental state (the subconscious level of their mind), allowing them to alter the way in which they consciously perceive their health problems, and encourages them to respond to these problems in new ways.

How? While they are in this special mental state, the person is given verbal suggestions or provided imagery to assist them in finding relief from their symptoms. The stimulation that the person under hypnosis receives from words and images has a significant impact on the way they function mentally and physically.

For instance, imagery used during hypnotherapy for an IBS patients would be images that encourage healing. Depending on what the image is, the patient may imagine their intestines expanding and relaxing to let fluids flow through. Hence, this imagery is meant to help the patient with their constipation problem.

Why is hypnotherapy an effective IBS treatment?
The reason is because hypnosis is a therapy that can help both the body and the mind. Think of hypnosis as a treatment that helps a person put mind over matter. In other words, it’s a way to use the mind to help heal physical ailments. Furthermore, many researchers believe IBS is a primary disorder of the brain/gut axis.

The what? The brain/gut axis is the term given to the important relationship between the events that have an affect on the way the central nervous system (brain) functions, and how this resulting function affects the way the intestines function through the intestinal specialized enteric nervous system. Essentially, the mind and body are connected. The state of one’s mind can have positive or negative affects on the way the body functions.

For many IBS sufferers, one of the best benefits of hypnotherapy is its ability to reduce the hold stress has on them. Most people with IBS are plagued by negative emotions such as anxiety, tension, and depression, all symptoms of stress that are caused by having to live with an incurable condition. Stress can cause chemical imbalances within the brain that can undermine the immune system and cause an IBS flare up. Hypnosis can decrease the stress one feels about IBS and help a person realize and explore new thoughts and strategies about how to cope with the illness. Hypnotherapy turns the negative to positive.

Over the course of 15 years, numerous studies have been conducted on the effects of hypnotherapy on people with IBS. The results have been very successful. In fact, hypnotherapy regularly generates long term positive results in more than 80% of those who are treated with it. As an additional bonus, hypnotherapy is safe for all ages, and works on 90% of the population.

Keep in mind, that like most types of natural remedy for IBS, hypnotherapy usually requires more than one session to be successful and maintain its effectiveness. Furthermore, although you can learn self-hypnosis, it’s a good idea to first undergo clinical hypnosis with a qualified and licensed professional to achieve the best experience and to find out if hypnotherapy can really help you.