effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy on somatic symptoms in women with irritable bowel syndrome

aim and background: one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders is irritable bowel syndrome (ibs) which is characterized by symptoms such as abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of any organic disorder. this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on somatic symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. method and materials: this was an experimental study (pre-test, post-test follow up with the control group) in which 14 women with irritable bowel syndrome were randomly selected, and then were replaced with mindfulness training and control groups. interviewing and rome-iii diagnostic criteria were used for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. data were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measure (anova). findings: results showed that the mean scores of severity and rate of symptoms in mindfulness training in post-test and follow up decreased compared with the pre-test and control group (p ≤ 0.01). conclusions: the results supported the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy on somatic symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and have important implications considering the mindfulness-based therapies in reducing the somatic symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.