*EMBARGOED All research presented at the 2022 ACG Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course is strictly embargoed until Sunday, October 23, 2022, at 12:00 pm EDT.
Oral 15 – App-Delivered Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy Program Nerva Improves Symptoms in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome but How Can We Ensure Users Are Compliant?
Monday, October 24, 2022 | 2:15 PM – 2:25 PM ET | Location: Hall C1
Author Insight from Simone Peters, PhD, Monash University
What’s new here and important for clinicians?
Gut-directed hypnotherapy improves overall and individual gastrointestinal symptoms in ~70% of patients with IBS. The effects are not due to a placebo response and are maintained up to 5 years post-treatment. Access to suitably trained hypnotherapists is limited and therapy can be expensive. Digital app-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy is similarly as efficacious as face-to- face therapy and allows for greater access at a notably reduced cost. Patients who use app- delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy as equally likely to respond regardless of whether they find the app on their own or are referred by a health care provider (HCP, but HCP enhances program completion rates. IBS patients referred to app-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy by an HCP are more compliant.
What do patients need to know?
- App-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy improves overall and individual (diarrhea and/or constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, wind) gastrointestinal symptoms associated with IBS
- Improvements in gut symptoms are maintained in the long-term
- Similar rates of efficacy are seen in app-delivered versus face-to-face delivered gut- directed hypnotherapy.
- App delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy is delivered as part of a 6-week program
- Most people will respond positively between weeks 4-6
- App-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy can be listened to at any time / location of the persons choosing thus enabling greater flexibility around work, school, family, social commitments, etc.
- App-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy program, Nerva clinical content is provided by world leading gut-directed hypnotherapist and medical researcher, Dr Simone Peters
- Hypnotic susceptibility is not a positive predictor of symptomatic improvement. People are likely to respond regardless of their hypnotic susceptibility
- Users do not ‘lose control’ when in a state of hypnosis
- There are no side effects associated with using app-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy
Author Contact
Simone Peters, PhD, Monash University
simone.peters [at] monash.edu
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