Hypnosis and IBD: Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis
It is not just the pain. It is never knowing what tomorrow will bring.
It is the fatigue nobody sees and everybody underestimates, you included, because it shows up on no test. It is the infusion to fit in between two meetings. It is the colonoscopy coming up that you have been thinking about for three weeks.
It is also what the disease took without warning: a cancelled trip, a job turned down, an evening cut short, and the habit of checking where the toilets are everywhere you go.
And there is what you have probably told no one: the fear of the next flare, the one that sets in precisely when everything is going well.
Let us say it before anything else. Hypnosis does not treat a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, does not cure it, does not space out flares and replaces no treatment. Your gastroenterologist is your only reference on the disease, the treatments and their follow-up. Never reduce or stop a maintenance treatment because you feel better: the consequences of stopping inappropriately can be serious, including surgical. What hypnosis can support is what the disease puts you through. That is something else, and it is not nothing.
What are we talking about
Inflammatory bowel diseases, or IBD, mainly include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
They are organic diseases: there is real inflammation, visible lesions, an immune mechanism. They evolve through flares and remissions, they are followed in gastroenterology, and they are treated.
That is exactly what sets them apart from irritable bowel syndrome, where the organ is healthy. The distinction is not a matter of vocabulary: it determines what hypnosis can and cannot do. It is explained on our digestive system page.
Contact your care team without delay in case of unusual or worsening abdominal pain, fever, stopped bowel movements, repeated vomiting, heavy bleeding, or any marked change from what you know of your disease. In someone followed for IBD, these signs can announce a flare or a complication, which are all the better managed for being dealt with early.
What the disease takes, beyond the symptoms
Fatigue. It is the symptom most often cited by people with the disease, and the least taken seriously by those around them. It often persists in remission, it is not proportional to the inflammation, and it limits life more than pain does. Unpredictability. IBD gives no warning. You end up planning nothing three months ahead, and that is a further weariness. Procedures and treatments. Colonoscopies, infusions, injections, regular blood tests. Many people develop a real apprehension, sometimes a needle phobia, and it is almost never addressed.
The body. The effects of corticosteroids on the face and weight, scars, sometimes a stoma. Self-image and intimacy take a hit, and the subject remains taboo.
Work and studies, with absences to justify and the difficulty of explaining an invisible illness.
And the fear of a flare, which often fills the calm periods and stops you from enjoying them.
What exists besides hypnosis
- Your gastroenterologist and your care team, who are in charge. Everything else comes on top.
- Psychological follow-up. Anxiety and depression are common in IBD, and they can be treated. Many centres have a psychologist.
- Patient associations, which do remarkable work of information and support. In France, afa Crohn RCH France. In Quebec and Canada, Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
- Dietary support, with a dietitian or nutritionist. We give no dietary advice, and badly managed elimination diets are particularly risky in a disease where undernutrition is a threat.
- Workplace adjustments, with occupational health.
- Recognition and coverage schemes, which exist and are under-used.
What Hypnosis can support, and what it cannot
What it does not do, and what we refuse to write
It does not act on the inflammation. No data allow us to say so.
It does not space out flares. It is written on many websites, including on this one until now, and nothing demonstrates it.
It never justifies changing a treatment. Never, under any circumstances.
There is a further reason to refuse these claims, and it is a human one: if you are told that managing your stress spaces out your flares, then every flare becomes your fault. That is false, and it is cruel.
What it can support
- Pain. It is the area where hypnosis is best documented, across all indications. Pain management techniques apply here as elsewhere, alongside what your doctor prescribes.
- Fatigue, by working on sleep and recovery, and by helping you live with an energy that is no longer what it was.
- Apprehension about procedures and treatments: the colonoscopy, the infusion, the injection, the blood test. It is a very concrete reason to consult, often with quick results, and it is rarely offered.
- Fear of a flare, the one that spoils the calm periods — the ground of our work on stress and anxiety.
- Anxiety about being far from a toilet, and the avoidance that follows.
- Your relationship with your body, after surgery, on corticosteroids, or with a stoma.
- Adherence. This is an important point: apprehension about treatments leads some people to space them out or stop them. An accompaniment that eases that apprehension supports medical follow-up instead of competing with it.
The particular case of remission
Many people in remission keep digestive symptoms while the inflammation is under control: pain, bloating, irregular transit. The picture looks a lot like irritable bowel syndrome, and it is common in IBD.
There, the ground changes. It is precisely the area where gut-directed hypnotherapy has the strongest data. If your gastroenterologist confirms that your inflammation is under control and symptoms persist, talk to them about this option, and see our page on irritable bowel syndrome.
A precaution about pain, important and rarely stated. In IBD, new or different pain can signal a complication. Hypnotic pain management techniques must never be used to mask a signal your body is sending you. A serious practitioner will tell you so explicitly: we work on known, followed and explained pain, not unusual pain. Faced with that, you call your care team.
What research says, without embellishment
A literature review concludes that hypnotherapy has durable efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome, and "possibly" in ulcerative colitis. For Crohn's disease, the evidence is judged insufficient. In France, the preliminary results of the HypnoCrohn study, conducted in people in remission, show no improvement in quality of life at six months, with a possible short-term effect.
That is little, and we would rather write it than let you believe otherwise. What is documented and transferable here is the effect of hypnosis on pain and anxiety, not on the disease. We review it on our page what science says about hypnosis.
An example of accompaniment: Isabelle's case
Isabelle (name changed) has lived with Crohn's disease for about ten years. Her treatment and follow-up are in place. What made her decide to consult was not the disease itself: it was the infusions, which she dreaded several days ahead, and the fatigue that would not lift despite long nights. The work focused on three things. Sleep first. Then her apprehension about the infusion, rehearsed in session down to the detail of the chair and the line being put in.
Finally, the anxiety that stopped her from planning anything more than a month ahead, even though she was in a calm period. Her treatment and follow-up were never discussed in session.
This case describes one possible path. It predicts no one's. The pace and the results vary from person to person, and no accompaniment can guarantee a result or influence the course of the disease.
How an accompaniment unfolds
First, where you are with your follow-up. Diagnosis, current treatments, the team following you, and where you are today: flare, calm period, round of tests. The practitioner will not ask for your medical file and does not need to know your protocols in detail.
A concrete goal. Not "feeling better", but: sleeping, getting through the infusion on the 12th, being able to book a holiday, getting back to swimming.
The induction, then work adapted to you: pain management, preparing for a procedure, sleep, an anchor you can use on the spot, or work on your relationship with your body.
Self-hypnosis, taught as early as possible. It is what helps you on the day of the procedure, when nobody is there.
The pace follows your disease, not a programme. During a flare, the goal is often limited to comfort and sleep.
By video. A format suited to a tiring illness and a diary already full of medical appointments.
How many sessions? That is discussed at the first appointment. Nobody can know in advance.
Book an appointment
Tell us where you are. And talk to your gastroenterologist about this step: many are in favour of it as a complement, and they know your situation better than anyone. Ask us your question or book an appointment. Wherever you are in the world, video consultation offers the same conversation and the same session as in the consulting room, without adding a trip to your diary. We see people this way from France, Quebec, Morocco and well beyond. Here is how it works.
Where would you like to consult?
All areas
Annie Mayrand
Gatineau - Cumberland (ON)
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Christian Rocher
Beloeil
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David Veilleux
Montréal - Anjou
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Florence Aton
Sutton
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Julie Rocque
Montréal - Jean-Talon
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Nuria Pérez de León
Montréal - Rosemont - Saint-Lambert
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Réjeanne LeBlanc
La Prairie
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Frequently asked questions about Hypnosis and IBD
No, and we are categorical about it. It is a chronic inflammatory disease that calls for specialist follow-up and maintenance treatment. Hypnosis does not treat it, does not cure it and replaces nothing.
Nothing shows that it does, and we will not claim it. Be wary of any website that says so.
Many people describe a worsening during difficult periods, and the link between stress and flares is still debated. What is certain is that living with IBD is stressful in itself. And above all: a flare is never your fault.
No. That decision belongs solely to your gastroenterologist. We will never ask you to change a treatment and will give no opinion on your care.
It is one of the most common and most useful reasons to consult on this subject. Preparing for a procedure works well, and often fairly quickly.
That is common. The picture often resembles irritable bowel syndrome, an area where hypnosis is far better documented. Talk to your gastroenterologist about it, then see our dedicated page.
It is the most frequently cited symptom, and the most underestimated. The work focuses on sleep, recovery and how to live with limited energy. Mention it to your doctor too: several treatable causes can contribute to it.
Possibly, but that is for a dietitian or nutritionist, not us. With IBD, a poorly supervised diet exposes you to deficiencies. We give no dietary advice.
Your relationship with your body, with intimacy and with how others see you can be worked on, and it is a legitimate reason to consult. Mention it at the first contact.
Sources and references
In English
- Crohn's and Colitis Canada — national patient organisation
- Review article: gut-directed hypnotherapy in the management of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease (2015). Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 41(11), 1104-1115. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25858661
In French
- Maladie de Crohn — Ameli, French national health insurance
- afa Crohn RCH France — French national patient association · Hypnosis and IBD booklet
- Apports de l'hypnose dans la prise en charge de la maladie de Crohn : intérêts et résultats préliminaires de l'étude HypnoCrohn — Hegel journal, 2022
- Gueguen, J., Barry, C., Hassler, C., & Falissard, B. (2015). *Évaluation de l'efficacité de la pratique de l'hypnose*. Inserm. inserm.fr
Hypnosis as practised by the members of Solutions Hypnose is a complementary support approach. It is neither a medical act, nor a diagnosis, nor psychotherapy in the regulatory sense, and it in no way replaces a consultation, follow-up or treatment prescribed by a health professional.
Our practitioners do not assess and do not treat mental disorders or illnesses. They never ask for an ongoing treatment to be stopped or changed: that decision rests exclusively with your doctor.
No result can be guaranteed. The testimonials and examples presented on this page describe individual experiences and do not predict what you will experience.
In case of significant distress, unexplained physical symptoms or suicidal thoughts, contact a doctor, emergency services or a helpline without delay.
Page written by Julie Rocque
hypnotherapist
partner at Solutions Hypnose.
English version reviewed by David Veilleux