Comparison of the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Neurofeedback on Severity and Intensity of Somatic Symptoms and Emotional Regulation in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

the aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and neurofeedback on severity and intensity of somatic symptoms and emotional regulation in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

the study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design and follow-up with control group. The study population included all women with irritable bowel syndrome referred to gastroenterology clinics in Qazvin city in 2019. 45 patients were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and one control group. The Rome-III Diagnostic Criteria Form and the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) were administered to all sample subjects before, after and two months after the intervention. The experimental groups underwent Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and neurofeedback.

The results showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and neurofeedback were effective on reducing severity and intensity of somatic symptoms and increasing emotional regulation in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (p<0.01). Comparison of the means of the two experimental groups showed that there was no significant difference between their effectiveness on the extent and severity of physical symptoms and emotional regulation of patients (p>0.05).

Both interventions can reduce the severity and intensity of patients' physical symptoms and increase their emotional regulation through their special techniques. Therefore, therapists can use these interventions to control the physical and emotional symptoms of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.