Lay Summary

Proposal No.   IBD-0031R
Principal Investigator:  David S. Rampton, BM, DPhil
Applicant Organization:  Queen Mary, University of London (United Kingdom)
Project Title: Stress and hypnosis in ulcerative colitis
Period of Award:  August 1, 2003 - July 31, 2005

Conventional medical treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is not always effective and commonly associated with side effects.  Hypnotherapy is anecdotally reported to have beneficial effects in IBD, but little work has been done to confirm such claims or to discover how they might be mediated.  Psychological stress, in contrast, is thought to worsen IBD through effects on nerves and inflammatory cells in the gut wall.  Again, to date, there have been no studies of how this might occur in man, or of the potential therapeutic value of antagonizing the effects of mental stress in IBD patients.

This study aims to investigate the hypothesis that, in patients with IBD, increased psychological stress worsens inflammation, and relaxation achieved by hypnosis reduces inflammation.  In patients with high chronic perceived stress levels identified by psychometric testing, we will investigate the contrasting anti- and pro-inflammatory effects of hypnosis and psychological stress, administered as a special listening test, on the inflammatory response in patients with UC and healthy controls. The level of inflammation will be assessed in blood samples by measurement of the function of inflammatory white blood cells and platelets.  The function of the rectal lining, where inflammation is most marked in patients with UC, will be evaluated by measurement of its release of inflammatory molecules and by recording of blood flow using a special laser probe.

We hope that these studies of the effects of hypnotherapy and psychological stress on inflammation in the body as a whole, and rectum in particular, will improve our understanding of the causation of IBD and lead ultimately to new therapeutic approaches.  Indeed, in the longer term, if promising results from the present work are obtained, we aim to undertake clinical trials of the efficacy and safety of hypnotherapy in patients with UC and Crohn’s disease.  Lastly, it is hoped that data obtained in patients with IBD may be of use in other chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and asthma.