title: Using art to help understand the imagery of irritable bowel syndrome and its response to hypnotherapy.
abstract: A medical artist asked 109 patients if they had an image of their IBS pre- and posthypnotherapy, making precise watercolor paintings of any images described. Results were related to treatment outcome, symptoms, anxiety, depression, and absorption (hypnotizability); 49% of patients had an image, and a wide variety were recorded and painted. Imagery was significantly associated with gender (p < .05), anxiety (p < .05), noncolonic symptomatology (p < .05), and absorption (p = .001); 57.8% of responders compared with 35.5% of nonresponders to hypnotherapy had an image of their disease (p < .05) before treatment, and color images were associated with better outcomes (p = .05) than monochrome ones. All images changed in responders, often becoming more nonspecific in nature. Inquiring about IBS imagery helps to identify potential responders and nonresponders to hypnotherapy and may also provide insights into how patients think about their illness.
authors.affiliation: University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Helen R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Carruthers
authors.forename: Vivien
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tarrier
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Whorwell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis / Q000379:methods*; D007092:Imagination; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D008875:Middle Aged; D010151:Paintings; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult