A Cochrane review1 (abstract, review [Abstract]) included 4 studies with a total of 147 subjects. 1 study compared hypnotherapy to an alternative therapy (psychotherapy and placebo pill), 2 studies compared hypnotherapy with waiting-list controls and 1 study compared hypnotherapy to usual medical management. Data were not pooled for meta-analysis due to differences in outcome measures and study design. The therapeutic effect of hypnotherapy was found to be superior to that of a waiting list control or usual medical management, for abdominal pain and composite primary irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, in the short term in patients who fail standard medical therapy. Long term efficacy is uncertain as it has only been evaluated in one study and this did not show a sustained benefit for hypnotherapy. Harmful side-effects were not reported in any of the trials.
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (inadequate or unclear allocation concealment), by inconsistency (heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes) and by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison).
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