NIDDK Report: Cognitive Behavior Therapy May Reduce IBS Symptoms

A study funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases found that a significant proportion of irritable bowel syndrome patients treated with cognitive behavior therapy, those called "rapid responders," saw and maintained improvement of their IBS symptoms after four weeks of treatment, according to a news release from the American Gastroenterological Association.

The study is published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the AGA Institute.

In the study, physicians investigated whether patients who achieved rapid, substantial and sustained symptom improvements relatively early in treatment (by week four) — the rapid responders — maintain treatment gains, compared with non-rapid responders. Seventy-one patients were randomly assigned to undergo 10 weekly, one-hour sessions of cognitive behavior therapy or four, one-hour cognitive behavior therapy sessions over 10 weeks, according to the release.

Rapid responders, which represented 30 percent of the patients undergoing cognitive therapy, were classified as patients who reported adequate relief of pain, adequate relief of bowel symptoms and a decrease in total IBS severity scores of greater than or equal to 50 by week four. Of this group, 90-95 percent maintained gains at the immediate and three-month follow-up examinations. The rapid responders reported more severe IBS symptoms at baseline and achieved more substantial, sustained IBS symptom reduction than non-rapid responders, according to the release. Both dosages of cognitive behavior therapy had comparable rates of rapid responders.

Ninety-two percent of rapid responders also showed lasting benefit that persisted three months after treatment ended with no evidence of deterioration, and some reported continued improvement. This suggests that rapid response is a relatively robust, clinically meaningful and enduring clinical phenomenon, according to the release.

Read the AGA's release on cognitive behavior therapy in IBS patients.