IBS Audio Program 60® for children

Trials, results, content, ranking,results and advantages

The IBS Audio Program 60® for Children was borne out of the increasingly greater numbers of children diagnosed with Functional Abdominal Pain and IBS being seen in Michael’s practice. Having worked with children for various physical and emotional concerns for many years, a finely tuned and innovative protocol was developed especially for this group of suffering children.

After seeing many children progress with this protocol over the years, a formal clinical trial project was developed. Objectives were to confirm and quantify hypnotherapeutic protocols effective in the clinical setting, and to provide this therapy to the community via recorded sessions and instructional information.

The impact of providing another avenue of treatment to this patient population not only assists the health care provider to work holistically with the paediatric patient but provides the child and parents with an ongoing tool to avoid further decline in the child’s health as resources are provided for coping with the child’s return to school, reducing and usually eliminating future school absences.

This in turn gives the child a better future for learning and eventually employment. Future health care costs can be reduced through decreased  physician visits in that the patient and parent take ownership of their own healing, as well as reduction or elimination of medications.

Further indirect costs to the parents are also avoided as the child improves and returns to school as there is no lost salary for leaving work, taking days off when the child is ill and home from school, or paying for a child minder.

The hypnotherapeutic protocol used for this study was developed over several years working with children having recurrent functional abdominal pain or FAP, IBS and related symptoms.  Following upon the successful completion of feedback, the sessions have been recorded and are available in MP3 download format with a print document booklet and will be available on CDs in the near future.  The instructional booklet includes symptom rating charts, (one with colourable smiley faces), a listening schedule, information on IBS, FAP, and other related symptoms and emotional concerns, message to the parent(s)/guardian(s) and to the child, full explanations and resource material as well as continued support via website, email, or phone.

In-House Clinical Trials

The IBS Audio Program 60® research trials verify the successful efficacy established in the clinical setting, as well as findings from other research studies.

Before making the protocol available as a recorded program, in-house clinical trials were conducted which provided rankings upon completion of the therapy sessions and a one-year follow-up.

It should be noted that the sessions and methods used in the protocol for the study were also used successfully over several years with other paediatric patients.

The recorded sessions in the IBS Audio Program 60® for Children replicate the session protocol used in the study and clinical setting. In addition, the parent instruction is fully duplicated onto CD.

Further essential information and instruction for the parents, including answers to frequently asked questions, symptom rating charts and other imperative information are provided in the printed booklet which is included in the program.

Initial diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and/or Functional Abdominal Pain (also termed Recurrent Abdominal Pain or RAP) or Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder as well as related emotional and social concerns was provided by the child’s gastroenterologist or paediatrician.

Method

For  this project, 16 children, 10 girls and 6 boys, aged 8yrs. 1 month to 13 years 2 months were received for hypnotherapy as part of their holistic treatment for their diagnosed condition.

Each child was asked to rate several symptoms or emotional/social areas of concern of their condition on a scale of 10 being very severe and affecting poor quality of life, and 1 being low, with 0 being non-existent.

They were also asked to rate their general happiness with 1 being very low, and 10 being very happy.

This was done to get a baseline of their condition, so that it could be evaluated with their rankings after the completion of the program. These rankings were then converted to percentages of improvement upon full completion of the study.

Session Content

Parent (or Guardian) Informational Session

This adult informational session empathizes with the parents’ experience of missed days at school, their child often curled up in pain, and refusing to move or go out. Often this has a social impact too. The child may drop out of clubs, and after school activities, and even lose contact with friends.

Further information is given on the frustrations of both child and parent, and how they can work together to help the situation not only on the level of obvious symptoms, but the emotional aspects as well.

Two Child Introductory Sessions

First introductory session for the child – is not a hypnotherapeutic session, but rather one that explains the nature of their treatment, asks them questions about their pain and other symptoms, explains the brain-gut connection in simple terms and helps them to feel comfortable and cared for.

The second session for the child is also introductory in nature and provides simple exercises for defining pain and thinking about it from a different perspective.

Six Child Guided Imagery Therapeutic Sessions - consist of the actual hypnotherapeutic process where the work is done.

The first hypnotherapy session helps the child learn to relax and become accustomed to the hypnotherapy process and to feel good about themselves taking the needed time to get better.

The second session uses a combination of gentle imagery as well as the child’s own answers to questions asked in the introduction to help address the child’s pain and to let go of  the worry about their stomach, going out or going to school, visiting people or doing new things or any other areas of concern for the child.

The third session assists the child in looking forward to the future without symptoms, feeling well and able to move forward in a whole and healthy way.

The child’s fourth session uses further gentle imagery to address concerns with digestive motility and balance and reduce or eliminate unwanted digestive symptoms of IBS.

In the fifth session the child learns to replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and processes and imagery is provided for the child to move even further into the future, removing any remaining areas of pain, looking forward to taking part in life without worry or fear.

The sixth and final session encapsulates the previous sessions, embedding them further and helping to maintain the progress made through the program and to provide a means to continue with their improvement beyond the duration of the active sessions.

Session Completion and Ranking

Upon completion of the final session, the child was again asked to rank their progress by rating the  26 symptoms of emotional/social areas of concern of their condition on a scale of 10 being very severe and affecting poor quality of life, and 1 being low, with 0 being non-existent.

They were again also asked to rate their general happiness with 1 being very low, and 10 being very happy.   These rankings were compared to their initial ranking from April 2005 with program ranking completed in November 2005. In order to determine maintenance and continued improvement, additional rankings were provided by the children in March, July and November 2006, which indicated even further progress.

Basic Core Symptoms

Stomach ache/Abdominal Pain
Bloating
Diarrhoea
Constipation
Alternating Bowel Movements – D & C
Rushing for toilet
Wind / Gas
Nausea
Pain in back passage
Cramping
Not empty feeling
Full bladder
Increased urination
Fear going out
Fear going to school
Friends don’t understand
Teachers don’t understand
Others don’t understand
Low Confidence
Headaches
Anxiety
Disturbed sleep
Feeling sad / not wanting to play
Feeling angry
Feeling scared
Always avoid foods

Improvement of General Happiness (Ranked Differently)

Results

●  All of the children – 100%  - made positive gains upon completion of their therapy and in the months following.

●  All of the children showed a range of 88% to 100%  improvement in the majority of their individual presenting symptoms. Most children presented with all listed symptoms.

● There was an average of 97% of the children’s presenting symptoms that were improved.

●  There was an average of 75.6% improvement of symptoms with a 43% to 100%  range for all presenting symptoms.

● 100% of the children had a three to nine-fold increase in their overall happiness, wellbeing and quality of life, upon completion of their therapy and in the months following.

The results of this study fully reflected the efficacy of the sessions found in the clinical setting where even incapacitated children could return to school.

Secondary Outcomes and Advantages

In addition to improvements ranked, further feedback indicated  secondary outcomes – parents became closer to their children, the children received validation for their condition, which in turn, further helped their progress. The eliminated costs of lost work and child care provided additional indirect benefits.

The children indicated that the sessions were pleasant and easy to do, and they were pleased that they were feeling better – and as indicated by feedback – much happier overall.

Converting the protocol and instruction from the clinical setting to the IBS Audio Program 60® for Children provides an easy to follow solution for this patient population.

The IBS Audio Program 60® for Children can be completed in 60 days and also includes a guide to return the child to school in a structured and gently scheduled way that provides further care and support for the parent to give their child added success.

It also should be noted that the majority of children seeing Michael in clinical practice are those who have failed to see improvement with conventional treatment (medication, diet, other interventions) prior to receiving hypnotherapy. The first real relief was obtained upon completion of the hypnotherapy sessions.

As outlined above, the incorporation of the IBS Audio Program 60® for Children into the treatment arsenal of physicians, school nurses and other health care providers is a true demonstration of how the complementary approach using clinical hypnotherapy, can be easily and successfully integrated with conventional treatment, while providing a standardised treatment every time – no worry of ineffective delivery or content, or shortage of therapists in a specified locale.

Advantages of the IBS Audio Program 60® for Children for the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

 ●  IBS Audio Program 60® for Children (IBSAP) is readily available to the public now via MP3 Download and in CD format and folder by the end of the calendar year.

●  IBSAP for Children has already been proven effective for over five years in the clinical setting. 

● Patient compliance with in-home intervention would be more likely with utilisation of the IBSAP due to no travel, no distance problems, personal schedule adaptability, and no need to accommodate patient incapacitation (bowel urgency, anxiety) levels.

●  For Children  - less or no more missed school

● Reduce potential of child to carry IBS/FAP condition into adulthood, thereby saving NHS expenditures.

● For Parents - eliminate or reduce necessity of taking off work to care for sick child and/or caregiver expenses.

● The IBSAP costs less than any other psychological intervention recommended in the NICE Guidelines: Average psychological intervention cost of £290.85 per patient in NICE Costing Template vs. £65 per patient with the IBSAP.  Savings of  £226 per person.  This is also true for personal therapy costs in the United States, with total fees between $500 - $1000.

The IBSAP need only be repeated for further progress, and support via website, email or phone is included.

● Most IBS patients, especially children, as well as many physicians may find it more beneficial to the patient to avoid continual or even limited use of both OTC and prescription medications, including TCAs (Tricyclic Antidepressants) and SSRIs (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), especially long-term medication use, preferring to first recommend the least invasive treatment available - which would be a psychological intervention; with hypnotherapy as the most effective and most researched, as well as the most cost effective method to deliver this treatment being the IBSAP.