Use Hypnosis to Treat Dyspepsia
Dyspepsia is a fairly common medical condition which is characterized by chronic or recurrent pain in the upper abdomen, upper abdominal fullness and feeling full earlier than expected during eating. Other symptoms are also related to difficult digestion and include bloating, belching, nausea and heartburn.
Many symptoms overlap with those of irritable bowel syndrome and experts in the area believe the two could be linked by the same disorder. Before diagnosing the problem as dyspepsia other disorders such as diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and peptic ulcers must be ruled out first. Treatment of the condition really does depend on the patients symptoms but the MAYO clinic have suggested that sufferers try to alter their lifestyle and undergo behavioural therapy as treatment.
We already know that hypnosis has been proven highly effective when used to treat IBS so it seemed like an obvious choice of treatment as the conditions both share many symptoms. A study which aimed to research the effectiveness of hypnosis when treating dyspepsia gave 126 patients hypnotherapy, supportive therapy and placebo, or medical treatment. Dyspepsia symptoms were analysed both before and after the 16 week course of treatments and patients were then monitored for a further 56 week follow up.
The results showed that the hypnotherapy group exhibited the most improvement both on short and long term basis. Of the participants in the study 73% of those from the hypnosis group reported improvement, compared to 34% of the therapy group and 43% of the medicine group.
Not only is hypnotherapy great in this instance due to its therapeutic nature but it also has been shown to speed up the emptying of the stomach which in turn will ease painful dyspepsia symptoms.
