"Fighting IBS with Behavioral Therapy" - Amy Chillag
Kevin Yu thinks back on the terrible year his stomach held him "prisoner." There was constant pain, the incessant urge to use the bathroom from the moment he woke up until he went to bed. Kevin was eventually diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). One of the most compelling studies came out this year. It's the largest federally funded nondrug clinical trial for irritable bowel syndrome and included over 400 IBS patients. The study found that more than 60 percent of the patients reported substantial improvement in their GI symptoms in just four or fewer visits to the psychologist, plus doing the work at home. Laurie Keefer, a principal researcher on that study and a GI health psychologist and director of psychobehavioral research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Keefer said many people are hesitant to see a psychologist because of a stigma that still surrounds. "There is very limited access to therapists that do this type of treatment," she said, but the study shows that learning some of these methods to practice at home is effective.
— Laurie Keefer, PhD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Gastroenterology, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, GRITT-IBD, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital
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