Cognitive-behavior therapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Subject Areas : روان درمانگری

Seyyed Abbas Haghayegh ¹ , Mehrdad Kalantari ² , Hosein Molavi ³ , Majid Talebi ⁴

1 - M. A. in Psychology
2 - PhD Esfahan University
3 - PhD Esfahan University
4 - PhD Esfahan Medical Science University

Received: 2015-06-05 Accepted : 2015-06-05 Published : 2008-06-21

Keywords: Depression, : irritable bowel syndrome, cognitive-behavior therapy, health anxiety,

Abstract :

The efficacy of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) in decreasing the symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was examined. 32 patients, diagnosed by a gastroenterologist applying the RomeII Criteria, were selected and divided into an experimental and a control group-each composed of 12 patients. The experimental group received a weekly session of CBT for eight weeks. The Health Anxiety subscale of the Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (Patrick et al., 1998) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, 1961) were administered as pre-post and follow-up tests. The results of MANCOVA showed significantly lower mean scores in symptoms of anxiety (P < 0.05) and depression (P < 0.01) among the experimental group in the post-test. The follow-up test given eight weeks after the post-test did not show a change in the anxiety scores of experimental group. However, the follow-up test showed an increase in the depression scores of experimental group (P < 0.05). Findings support the efficacy of CBT in treating the IBS.