Editorial: gut‐directed hypnotherapy or low FODMAP diet for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome?

Editorial: Can we predict or not predict response to hypnotherapy? That is the question. Authors' reply

“…We thank Drs. Lövdahl and Törnblom for their positive commentary on our paper 1 and agree that gut‐directed hypnotherapy should not be regarded as a stand‐alone treatment. We regard it as part of an integrated approach to care, which involves education about lifestyle and diet, as well as advice on the appropriate use of medications, such as antispasmodics, antidiarrhoeals and laxatives.…”

“…Drs. Lövdahl and Törnblom also highlighted the need for future studies in patients with less severe IBS 1 . They pointed out, correctly, that a high proportion of the patients included in our tertiary care study had severe IBS 2 .…”

Editorial: gut‐directed hypnotherapy or low FODMAP diet for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome? Authors' reply

“…We kindly thank Lovdahl et al . for their comments and for raising several important points . Indeed, our study provides the first randomised controlled trial evidence to suggest that the efficacy of gut‐directed hypnotherapy for treating symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is comparable to the low FODMAP diet.…”