17. Irritable Bowel Syndrome – IBS

A middle-aged client of mine came in for therapy wanting to heal his IBS.

He had been taking medicines to treat the same

but relief had been temporary and the symptoms recurred frequently whenever he was under stress. During therapy he discovered a childhood memory under hypnotic age regression in which he was mortified of failing at a sport that his parents really wanted him to pursue.

This created a double bind in him

because a part of him felt fearful of failing and didn’t want to go for the practice sessions, while the other part wanted to please the parent and hence did not express his fear. As a result he continuously repressed his inner feelings and self expression. With each successive practice session as his fear surfaced, he repeatedly repressed it, causing his stomach to churn and knot up.

Through the pre-talk and hypnotic interventions

he realized that many years later, as a successful corporate executive in a leadership role, he felt a similar abdominal churning whenever things at work got too challenging, triggering his IBS. Under hypnotic trance he recognized how he was still operating from his childhood fears and experiencing the double bind situation at his work place.

If he expressed his point of view

at the management meetings he was worried about sticking his neck out and then failing. If he didn’t voice his opinions he was anxious about being perceived as lacking vision or not taking a stand, which as a leader he was expected to do.

Through therapy his fears were resolved by healing

his inner child and re- framing the source event. Within a month his IBS vanished and he discovered a new found freedom at work where he could openly express his opinions, confront situations which he was earlier averse to, and also became more expressive with his colleagues.

It has been two years since,

and the client reports that he is free of the IBS and has not required medication during this period