A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH REFRACTORY IRRITABLE-BOWEL-SYNDROME

Patients with chronic, refractory irritable bowel syndrome (n = 102) w ere entered into a randomised controlled trial of psychotherapy versus supportive listening. Independent physical and psychological assessme nts were carried out at the beginning and end of the 12-week trial. Fo r women, psychotherapy was found to be superior to supportive listenin g, in terms of an improvement in both physical and psychological sympt oms. There was a similar trend for men, but this did not reach signifi cance. Following completion of the trial, patients in the control grou p were offered psychotherapy; 33 accepted and following treatment expe rienced a marked improvement in their symptoms; ten declined. At follo w-up one year later, those patients who had received psychotherapy rem ained well, patients who had dropped out of the trial were unwell with severe symptoms, and most of the controls who declined psychotherapy had relapsed. This study shows that psychotherapy is feasible and effe ctive in the majority of irritable bowel syndrome patients with chroni c symptoms unresponsive to medical treatment.