Psychological treatments for irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This study conducted a systematic review to assess the quality of existing literature on psychological treatments for irritable bowel syndrome and to quantify the evidence for their efficacy. Three independent reviewers (2 from England, 1 from the United States) coded the quality of 32 studies, 17 o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of consulting and clinical psychology Vol. 72; no. 6; p. 1100
Main Authors:	Lackner, Jeffrey M, Mesmer, Christina, Morley, Stephen, Dowzer, Clare, Hamilton, Simon
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 01.12.2004
Subjects:	Humans Irritable Bowel Syndrome - diagnosis Irritable Bowel Syndrome - psychology Irritable Bowel Syndrome - therapy Psychotherapy - methods
ISSN:	0022-006X
Online Access:	Get more information
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Summary:	This study conducted a systematic review to assess the quality of existing literature on psychological treatments for irritable bowel syndrome and to quantify the evidence for their efficacy. Three independent reviewers (2 from England, 1 from the United States) coded the quality of 32 studies, 17 of which provided data suitable for meta-analysis. Meta-analysis of efficacy data (50% reduction of symptoms) gave an odds ratio of 12 (95% confidence interval = 5.56-25.96) and a number needed to treat of 2. Psychological treatments are, as a class of interventions, effective in reducing symptoms compared with a pooled group of control conditions. Questions regarding the relative superiority of specific psychological treatments and influence of active versus nonspecific treatment effects remain unanswered.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-4
ISSN:	0022-006X
DOI:	10.1037/0022-006x.72.6.1100