Hypnotherapy, one of the first psychological therapies to be implemented in medical populations, has been linked to positive outcomes in a number of chronic diseases such as cancer 15– 17, rheumatoid arthritis 18, HIV 19, 20, fibromyalgia 21, 22 and chronic pain 23, 24. However, the prevalence of psychological disorders in patients with UC mirrors that of the general population, particularly during quiescent disease states 12, 13, and thus psychotherapy is not routinely recommended 14.
Psychosocial research in UC has been limited to survey studies characterizing co-morbid anxiety or depression in the setting of disease 9 or cross-sectional studies linking stressful experiences to the onset of disease flares 10, 11. Medical treatment is focused on prolonging remission and reducing exposure to environmental triggers of flare 8. Ulcerative colitis affects approximately 220 per 100,000 patients in the United States 1, 2 and is associated with painful and unpredictable symptoms, undesirable psychosocial consequences 3 and disability, particularly during periods of disease flare 4– 7.
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