Effect of relaxation with drug therapy on the psychological symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome-diarrhea dominant [IBS-D]

ABSTRACT

Irritable bowel syndrome is the most prevalent functional bowel disorder which is characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habit in the absence of organic disease. Psychological factors are of the major factors involved in this disease. The aim of this study was comparison of the effect of relaxation with and without drug therapy on the psychological symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome-diarrhea predominant [IBS-D]. This clinical- trial study was performed on 32 IBS-diarrhea dominant patients. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group was treated by using relaxation technique without drug therapy and another group was treated by using relaxation technique combined with drug therapy. Diagnostic characters of Rome-II and III were used for diagnosing the IBS-D patients and SCL-90 test was used for evaluating the psychological symptoms. The study was performed in three steps, pretest, post test and 4 months after last intervention [follow up group]. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance [ANCOVA] method. The average age of the patients in this study was 37 +/- 15.43 years. Our study demonstrated that there was a significant reduction in psychological symptoms scores in post test and follow up groups compared to the pre test group. This reduction was higher in patients receiving relaxation combined to drug therapy compared to the drug therapy group [P<0.05]. Based on the results of this study, Combination of relaxation and drug therapy is effective for reducing the psychological symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome patients