Hypnosis may help relieve stomach pain
Many children and young people experience recurring stomach problems, even though their symptoms cannot be explained by any known disease or abnormality of the gastrointestinal tract. Researchers are now investigating hypnosis as a possible treatment option.
Text: Ola Danielsson, first published in Medicinsk Vetenskap nr 3 2026
Stomach pain and other gastrointestinal complaints are common among children and adolescents. When symptoms recur over a long period, the cause may be a form of DGBI (Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction), in which communication between the brain and the gut does not function as it should. This can affect both intestinal motility and the way pain is perceived.
“It means that patients can have quite severe symptoms even when a basic medical assessment does not reveal any underlying organic condition that could explain them,” says Ola Olén, adjunct professor at Karolinska Institutet and senior physician in pediatric gastroenterology at Sachsska children's and youth hospital, Stockholm.
A common example is IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), which may cause diarrhoea, constipation and abdominal pain. Other patients experience recurrent stomach pain without changes in their bowel habits. What these conditions have in common is that symptoms are often influenced by stress and mental health.
“Poor mental health is a well-established and very strong risk factor, but the relationship between psychological wellbeing and gastrointestinal symptoms works both ways,” says Ola Olén.
Psychological treatments are the most effective
The foundation of treatment is learning more about the gut and what causes the symptoms. According to Ola Olén, this alone is enough to help many patients feel better.
He describes the intestine as a muscular tube that squeezes food forwards. Certain foods produce more gas, and sometimes the process becomes poorly coordinated, causing part of the intestine to balloon out, rather like squeezing the ends of a long balloon.
“The intestinal wall is sensitive to stretching. It can be very painful, but it is completely harmless,” he says.
For those who need additional support, psychological treatments such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and gut-directed hypnotherapy have shown the best results, according to Ola Olén.
“It may sound strange to treat gastrointestinal symptoms with psychological methods, but I do not think it is. When the brain learns to pay less attention to signals coming from the gut, the symptoms can become less troubling,” he says.
Through CBT, patients can identify fear-related and safety-seeking behaviours that may have developed around their symptoms, and gradually reduce both anxiety and their focus on the symptoms.
However, waiting times are often long, and there is a need for more accessible treatments for children and young people. One such approach currently being investigated by the research team is hypnosis.
Hypnosis is being tested in an ongoing project
“This is not the kind of hypnosis people may have seen on television, where a hypnotist gets people to say or do strange things against their will. Patients remain in control throughout. The aim is to enter a deeply relaxed state in which different visualisations and thought patterns can be explored,” explains Tea Soini, paediatrician and postdoctoral researcher leading the project.
Patients listen to audio recordings containing relaxation exercises and guided imagery designed to encourage new ways of thinking about the gut.
“One example is travelling down a long, winding waterslide where they can control the speed themselves and the journey moves smoothly and comfortably forwards. Another is imagining the stomach as a hot-air balloon where the amount of air can be regulated,” says Tea Soini.
The hope is that children will later be able to reconnect with this sense of calm and these new ways of thinking in everyday life.
“Signals between the gut and the brain travel in both directions, and we believe the treatment changes the way the brain influences the gut. As stress levels decrease, symptoms improve,” says Tea Soini.
The method is already used in clinical practice in the Netherlands and has shown promising results there, according to Tea Soini. She and her colleagues have now evaluated it in a pilot study involving 32 Swedish children and adolescents with conditions such as IBS or recurrent abdominal pain.
After listening to the audio recordings at home for around 15 minutes a day over a twelve-week period, 40 per cent reported a clinically meaningful improvement in their symptoms. The study did not include a control group and the findings should therefore be interpreted with caution, but the researchers consider the method sufficiently promising to warrant further investigation.
The research team is now conducting a larger study, the PIPPI project, in which hypnosis is being compared with CBT. The 300 participants are randomly assigned to the different treatments, allowing researchers to investigate whether the methods are equally effective or whether some children benefit more from one treatment than the other.
“If we can show that hypnosis works well enough, it could become an easily accessible treatment option that children and young people can use at home, regardless of where they live in the country,” says Tea Soini.
What is DGBI?
Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI) is an umbrella term for a group of conditions in which communication between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract plays a central role. These conditions were previously known as functional gastrointestinal disorders.
Common forms include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional abdominal pain and functional dyspepsia.
Diagnosis is based on characteristic symptoms, and in most cases only very limited testing is required.
Around 10 to 20 per cent of children and adolescents experience some form of functional gastrointestinal symptoms.
Both children and adults can be affected, but symptoms are particularly common during adolescence. A study by Ola Olén and colleagues found that two-thirds of young people with IBS were symptom-free by the age of 24.
DGBI and other functional gastrointestinal disorders result from a combination of factors. Known risk factors include being female, a previous gastrointestinal infection, poor mental health, and stress or trauma early in life. Having a parent with poor mental health or DGBI may also increase the risk.
Source: Ola Olén