Hypnotherapy app eases irritable bowel syndrome symptoms in six weeks

Users of the Nerva app saw their IBS symptoms decrease in severity, however, the trial didn’t compare the app’s efficacy against standard treatments

By Alice Klein

Using a hypnotherapy-based app may ease irritable bowel syndrome. Nerva, which is available to download, guides users through a 10-minute, gut-related hypnotherapy session every day for six weeks.

“We were really impressed by the degree of improvement,” says Simone Peters at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who led Nerva’s development. “[The app] works better than any drug we have for these patients and there are no side effects.”

In the UK alone, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects around …