IBS is a Physical Problem—So How Can Working with the Mind Help the Body?
Living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) often feels like an endless cycle of managing symptoms—whether it’s bloating, pain, or unpredictable bowel movements. Because of this, many people focus solely on their diet, believing that what they eat is the primary trigger of their symptoms. While nutrition certainly plays a role, IBS is far more complex than what’s on your plate.
Simply put, your mind and body aren’t separate. They coexist, and your thoughts create powerful changes within your body. Hormones, nerve impulses, and neurotransmitters can influence physiological processes like heart rate, breathing, brain activity—and digestion.
In other words, your thoughts can influence your digestion.
If you’ve been focusing only on dietary changes to manage IBS, you’re only addressing part of the problem.
How Thoughts Affect Digestion
When you live with IBS, it’s easy for anxious thoughts to become constant companions, especially during flare-ups. These thoughts might look like this:
What if my bloating never gets better? I look like I’m pregnant. I can’t go on holiday looking like this.
What if I go out and feel unwell? How will I get home?
What if the pain never goes away?
What if I get urgency while I’m on the tube?
What if my friends think I’m disgusting?
These "what ifs" are a natural part of living with IBS, and they make it easy to feel trapped in a loop of anxiety and physical discomfort. The good news is that there’s another way—by learning to work with both the mind and body, you open up a whole new opportunity for healing. It’s empowering and gives you a greater sense of control over your symptoms.
Why the Mind-Body Connection is So Important in IBS Treatment
Most traditional IBS treatments focus on the gut in isolation. After a diagnosis, you might be told to follow a low FODMAP diet, manage your stress, or simply “learn to live with it.” But this approach is incomplete. We need to stop looking at the gut alone and start focusing on the whole human—the interrelation of thoughts, behaviours, and symptoms.
Yes, IBS is a physical problem, but your thoughts and emotions play a critical role in how your body responds. Your gut is part of a complex network that involves both the conscious and subconscious mind. If we work with the mind, we can help the body, too.
The Emotional and Physiological Connection in IBS
One of the biggest gaps in traditional IBS treatment is addressing the interplay of emotion and physiology. Ignoring the profound connection between emotional well-being and gut function leaves many people floundering, endlessly trying to figure out which foods are causing their symptoms—without realising that stress, unresolved emotions, and thought patterns are significant contributors. We need to move beyond dietary restrictions and address the deeper psychological and emotional elements of IBS. It’s not a quick fix—but it’s effective.
Why the Medical Approach Falls Short After Diagnosis
This is not a criticism of our valued healthcare practitioners. GPs and gastroenterologists play an essential role in diagnosing gut-related conditions and ruling out more serious health issues. But once an IBS diagnosis is given, the issue is often a lack of ongoing support and guidance.
Being told, “You’ll just have to live with it,” or “Follow a low-FODMAP diet,” is often the extent of the advice offered. There should at the point of diagnosis be a transition from the biomedical model to the biopsychosocial approach —a model that recognizes how biological, psychological, and social factors work together to shape health and illness. Instead of focusing on just one aspect of IBS (like diet), this model offers a more holistic approach, one that takes into account your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and social environment.
How the Biopsychosocial Approach Can Help IBS
By adopting a biopsychosocial model, we shift from merely managing symptoms to uncovering the hidden connections between your thoughts, behaviours, and gut function. This model opens the door to healing by working with modalities that engage both the mind and body. Here’s how:
Hypnotherapy: Helps to calm the gut-brain axis, reducing gut sensitivity and helping to rewire the way your brain interprets signals from the gut.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Teaches you how to manage and reshape negative thought patterns that may be worsening IBS symptoms.
Mindfulness and Breathwork: Promote relaxation and help regulate the autonomic nervous system, reducing stress and improving digestion.
Yoga and Movement: Encourage a balance between mental calm and physical vitality, further supporting gut health.
Reclaiming Control Over Your Health
The biopsychosocial model allows us to reclaim agency over our health and well-being. Rather than feeling like passive recipients of treatments that only provide temporary relief, we become active participants in our own healing journey.
With every step—whether it’s practising breathwork, engaging in hypnotherapy, or learning to manage stress through mindfulness—we move closer to a deeper understanding of ourselves and our symptoms.
The process isn’t a quick fix, but it is empowering. Each day, you’ll cultivate a deeper connection with yourself and the world around you. And as your emotional well-being improves, so does your physical health, particularly your digestion.
How The Gut-Brain Connection Method® Can Help
This holistic, evidence-based approach is the foundation of The Gut-Brain Connection Method®, a 12-week program designed to help you achieve long-term relief from IBS. This program integrates hypnotherapy, CBT, mindfulness, and breathwork—approach IBS through the biopsychosocial model. It’s about creating a balanced, resilient body and mind that work together for your well-being and building the tools to find lasting relief from your symptoms.