The Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) on Perceived Stress in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome; An Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders in which stress plays a central role. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) on severity of perceived stress in patients with IBS. Methods: The research was performed in the form of a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with control and experimental groups. Statistical population included all patients with IBS referred to the functional Gastroenterology Clinic of Psychosomatic Research Center of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, in 2016. Based on the research purpose, 30 patients with IBS were selected through available sampling method, and then randomly divided into two equal experimental and control groups. CFT were held for the experimental group in 8 sessions that any session consisted of 90 minutes. Patients in control group were in waiting list, and they only received routine medical treatment. In order to assess perceived severity of stress, Cohen Perceived Stress Scale-14 items (PSS 14) was used. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) method via SPSS software. Findings: CFT with medication had more effect on perceived stress reduction in patients with IBS than mere drug treatment (F =5.031; P < 0.01). Conclusion: CFT can be used to reduce perceived stress in patients with IBS, and this approach is justified for the Iranian population.

Keywords

• compassion
• psychotherapy
• irritable bowel syndrome
• psychological stress