2016 Volume 56 Issue 10 Pages 993-1000
The guidelines of functional gastrointestinal disease were published in 2014. In the therapy of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), hypnosis, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and relaxation are recommended in the third stage. These therapeutic methods should be used actively by physicians of psychosomatic medicine, but actually only a few therapists have been trained to manage all of these methods. Judging from common sense, modern hypnosis is more flexible than the classic one and less dominant and safer than autogenic training (AT) because the therapist can use hypnotherapy tailored to individuals. However gut directed hypnotherapy (GDH) which has a lot of therapeutic evidence is a classical hypnosis. CBT adopts meditation and relaxation. So both hypnosis and CBT can treat the altered state of consciousness. In this paper, I introduce clinical evidence and essence of hypnotherapy, and AT in relation to hypnosis and CBT. I also review merits and demerits of each therapy.
