Gut Hypnotherapy: similar results to a low FODMAP diet!

The Low FODMAP diet is a great way of managing FODMAP issues and/or Irritable Bowel Syndrome but did you know there is a way of getting the same results without changing your diet?

It has been well known for sometime that hypnotherapy designed for the gut is just as useful as the Low FODMAP diet.

Gut Directed Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy directed at the gut is a way of teaching the subconscious mind to manage symptoms such as tummy pain, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation.

Typically, gut directed therapy involves presentation of how your gut can be protected followed by a transition to an altered consciousness state (in which you are fully aware of what is going on) when your subconscious mind is provided a different repertoire of gut responses different to the negative gut responses you have been experiencing.

This process seems to be able to provide some 'thought protection' to your gut and reduce your upsetting gut symptoms.

While at first this may sound somewhat unusual, the results of this mind imagery has been shown in a number of well controlled research studies to improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms in 70 - 80% of cases. Most importantly, this symptom relief is maintained over time (1).

Gut directed hypnotherapy is seen to be just as effective as the low FODMAP diet yet despite this is less well known and understood.

Research supports the usefulness of the Low FODMAP diet to be just as good as good gut outcomes as those treated with the gut directed therapy or a 3rd group treated with a low FODMAP diet as well as the gut directed hypnotherapy (2)!

Gut-directed hypnotherapy addresses "miscommunication" between the brain and gut by using relaxation and suggestion to calm the digestive system and reduce IBS symptoms, potentially improving gut motility and reducing visceral hypersensitivity. 

Central to this axis is also the gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that reside in our gut. Although this is a complex interplay, it is easy to see how coming in from different angles, be it altering food into the gut, taking probiotics or altering perception within the body can all potentially improve outcomes.

Gut directed therapy works equally well as the low FODMAP diet and is at least as good as some of the recent and expensive pharmacological options, with the added benefit of no known side effects (3) and potentially keeps working for the gut in the long term.

While you can access gut directed therapy via specialised psychologists and hypnotherapist, there are some great apps around that can also allow for self directed gut hypnotherapy with as little as 10 minutes per day (NERVA for example).

Is gut directed therapy for you? It does work better for some people that others, and if stress is a big predictor of how your gut is feeling, maybe some gut hypnotherapy could be just the thing to help you manage your irritable bowel symptoms.

Updated 08/4/25

REFERENCES

1. Monash Low FODMAP Dietitian Course 2018

2. Peters, S.L., et al., Randomised clinical trial: the efficacy of gut-directed hypnotherapy is similar to that of the low FODMAP diet for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 2016. 44(5): p. 447-59.

3. Lindfors, P., et al., Effects of gut-directed hypnotherapy on IBS in different clinical settings—results from two randomized, controlled trials. Am J Gastroenterol, 2011. 107(2): p. 276-285.