Mindfulness training has been shown to significantly lessen the severity of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in women in a recent study. Three months after the training was completed more than one-third of the subjects reported a reduction in IBS symptoms versus only 10% of the subjects in a control group.
The study, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, was conducted by a team from the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Seventy-five female IBS patients were randomly assigned to learn mindfulness techniques, or to meet with a support group for eight weeks. The subjects completed questionnaires about the severity of their IBS symptoms both before and after the treatment and three months later.
Immediately after the treatment, 26% of the women who learned mindfulness techniques reported a decrease in their IBS symptoms, while only 6% of the control group reported decreased symptoms. The difference was even more striking after three months, when 38% of the mindfulness trained women reported less severe symptoms compared to 12% of the control group.
The study concludes that mindfulness training has a significant therapeutic effect on IBS and can improve the quality of life of patients. The increase in the number of women who reported less severe symptoms after three months suggests that continued use of the techniques improves their therapeutic impact.
