Manualized hypnotic inductions for complicated irritable bowel syndrome patients

This modest clinical pilot study was intended to provide preliminary data on the effects of hypnotic inductions tailored to an irritable bowel syndrome patient at each session compared to Palsson's manualized protocol. Patients (N = 8) who had not previously responded to any form of treatment were assigned randomly to either a tailored or manualized induction condition. Other than pretesting for hypnotizability, the procedure followed for the manualized group (n = 4) was exactly as prescribed by O. Palsson (1998). The identical procedure was used for the other 4 patients except that the inductions were individualized. All 8 patients showed favorable responses to treatment immediately posttreatment and at 10-month follow-up. Only the tailored group showed no incapacitating pain at posttreatment but greater emotional stress than the manualized group. The tailored group continued to improve and showed better results than the manualized group at 10 months, and the posttreatment emotional distress was significantly attenuated.

Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA. arreed_barabasz@wsu.edu