effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy in depression, anxiety, stress, and physical symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Background: irritable bowel syndrome (ibs) is the most common disorder of the digestive system. despite the long period of study on the treatment of ibs, only a small number of treatments have proven effective. objectives: the current study aimed to determine the efficacy of compassion-focused therapy (cft) in depression, anxiety, stress, and physical symptoms in patients with ibs. methods: this was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest, posttest, follow-up, and control group. the present study was carried out on a total of 30 patients with ibs (diagnosed by a gastroenterologist applying the rome iii criteria) selected and divided into cft (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. the experimental group received eight sessions of cft. all groups responded to the severity of symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, and depression anxiety stress scale-42 was administered as pre-post and follow-up tests. results: the results showed significantly lower mean scores in depression, anxiety, stress, and physical symptoms in the experimental group in the posttest. the follow-up test given 8 weeks after the posttest did not show any change in the results. conclusion: the obtained findings support the efficacy of cft in depression, anxiety, stress, and physical symptoms in patients with ibs.