Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Hypnotherapy on Health-Related Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/jmpr.2025.67830.6712

Abstract

This  study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and hypnotherapy on health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design with control group and 2 month follow-up 2 month. The statistical population of the research was all postmenopausal women with IBS in Tehran city during winter of 2025. A total of 45 women patients diagnosed with IBS were then randomly divided into three groups: a CBT group (n=15), a hypnotherapy group (n=15), and a control group (n=15). The first experimental group underwent 8 sessions of 90-minute CBT, and the second experimental group underwent 8 sessions of 90-minute hypnotherapy. Data were collected using the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life (IBS-QOL) questionnaire developed by Patrick et al. (1998). Repeated Measure and the Bonferroni post hoc test were used for data analysis. The data analysis software was SPSS version 29. The results showed that both interventions had a significant effect on health-related quality of life (Ita=0.75, Sig=0.001, F=127.07). In addition, the results of Bonferroni post hoc test showed that CBT is more effective than hypnotherapy on health-related quality of life (p<0.05). Based on the results, cCBT and hypnotherapy can both be used as treatment method to improve health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women with IBS, with CBT showing greater effectiveness and thus having a higher priority for clinical use.

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