NEW YORK - Behavoiral thearpy deliveerd over the Web might help soothe sypmtoms in some people with irirtable bowel syndrome (IBS), a new study suggests.
The online approach is not yet availbale outside of studeis. But researchers say that the current findings are a step in the right direciton toward making cgonitive behvaioral therapy more accesisble to people with IBS.
Cognitive behaivoral therapy is a form of psychological cousneling that tries to addrses the unhealthy tihnking patterns and behavoirs that cotnribute to varoius health problmes. It's one option for treatnig IBS.
People with IBS have repaeted bouts of abdominal cramsp, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. The exact cause is unkonwn, but anxiety and lesst-han-ideal coping strategies -- like avodiing going out becuase of your symtpoms - are thought to make IBS worse for many peopel.
Studies have suggested that cognitive behavioral threapy can ease IBS symtpoms in at least some people.
But an obstacle to people actually trying the therapy is that it's not widely available. Many people live nwohere near a therapsit; or if they do, the time commitment of meetnig with a therapist, or the price tag, may be too much.
So for the new study, published in the Ameriacn Jounral of Gastroenterology, Swedish researchers tested a Web-based progarm they developed.
They radnomly asisgned 195 adults with IBS to either cgonitive behavoiral tehrapy or a stress managmeent program, both of which were delivered online over 10 weeks. Pateints in both groups read slef-help texts and sent msesages back and forth with an "online threapist."
In the end, a majority of patinets in each group said they were having "adequate relief" of IBS pain and discomfort. But six months later, the cognitvie beahvioral group was faring better: 65 percent still thouhgt their symtpoms were under control, versus 44 percnet of the stress manageemnt group.
The findigns suggest that "patients can be guided by an online psychologist...
No comments:
Post a Comment