Cognitive- Behavior Therapy in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) in decreasing the symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was examined. 32 patients, diagnosed by a gastroentero- logist applying the RomeII Criteria, were selected and di- vided into an experimental and a control group-each com- posed of 12 patients. The experimental group received a weekly session of CBT for eight weeks. The Health Anxiety subscale of the Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (Pat- rick et al., 1998) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, 1961) were administered as pre-post and follow-up tests. The results of MANCOVA showed significantly lower mean scores in symptoms of anxiety (P < 0.05) and depression (P < 0.01) among the experimental group in the post-test. The follow-up test given eight weeks after the post-test did not show a change in the anxiety scores of experimental group. However, the follow-up test showed an increase in the depression scores of experimental group (P < 0.05). Find- ings support the efficacy of CBT in treating the IBS.