Comparison of the Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Chronic Pain Indices and Cognitive-Emotional Regulation in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background: There is evidence that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can be a chronic and prevalent condition that is more common in individuals with psychological disorders than in the general population. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of hypnotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in mitigating chronic pain and cognitive-emotional regulation in patients with IBS. Methods: In this three-arm randomized clinical trial, participants who were adults with refractory IBS were screened. Co-primary outcomes were chronic pain indices and cognitive emotion regulation at a six-month follow-up. The statistical population of this study was all patients with IBS referred to Masoud Clinic and Shariati Hospital from May 2019 to February 2021 in Tehran, Iran. Twenty-four patients were calculated for each group, and 72 were for two experimental and one control group using convenience sampling. Seventy-two patients with IBS were accessible to us after the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were selected and randomly assigned to either interventions or the control group (n= 24). The demographic checklist, Chronic Pain Grade Questionnaire (CPGQ), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) were used in three periods. Results: Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance. Preliminary findings showed that the effectiveness of both treatments on chronic pain indices and cognitive emotion regulation in the post-test stage was significant (P < 0.05). Secondary results showed that treatment efficacy remained stable until the follow-up stage. Conclusions: This study revealed hypnotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy could effectively treat patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Patients with IBS could benefit from psychological intervention based on these findings.