GI Health Psychology
CREATIVE PSYCHOLOGY WITH DR. DUG
What is a Meaningful Life?
A meaningful life is that in which you are pursuing and achieving those things that are important to you and make your presence on earth valuable.
A meaningful life may entail some of the following:
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Going to your child’s school play or sporting event
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Spending the holidays with family
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Participating in community efforts for some shared goal
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Reading a good book
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Engaging in a spirited conversation with a friend
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Sharing a laugh with a roomful of people at a comedy show
All of us have different ideas of what would make our life feel valuable and meaningful. However, I do not think that any of us would say that a meaningful life entails:
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Staying in bed hoping the discomfort goes away
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Feeling sad while seeing friends have fun on social media
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Not wanting to start a book because you might not be able to focus on it
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Ignoring your friends and family because you do not want them to feel sorry for you
Even though these are not anyone’s goals, these become the goals when you have experienced chronic and serious GI problems. You become focused on the perception of controlling your circumstances instead of the things that you actually want out of life.
Am I saying that you should just ignore your GI problem and go about life as if nothing is wrong? No, not at all. But, my big question for you is, Is there a middle ground?
Let’s improve your symptoms and figure out ways to accommodate your needs so that you can actually engage in life again.
GI Health Psychology is a subfield of health psychology that focuses on the interactions between our psychological processes and GI health.
Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction
When we are thinking about GI problems, we can look at two big categories: Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBIs) and Structural GI Diseases.
GI Health Psychology primarily focuses on DGBIs, but there has also been positive research on the use of GI Health Psychology for GI disorders like Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and Celiac Disease.
GI Health Psychology is an effective adjunct treatment for GI disorders because of the Brain-Gut-Axis, in which there is a constant stream of communication between the digestive system and the mind. Most of the time, this communication is helpful because it keeps us alive and in tip-top shape, but sometimes it is overly helpful and can then make our lives miserable.
The purpose of GI Health Psychology is to help you live a life that is driven by your values, instead of driven by the current state of your GI symptoms.
Treatment
GI Health Psychology treatment takes place over two phases:
Clinical Hypnotherapy and ACT
Clinical Hypnotherapy Phase
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Appointments take place every two weeks.
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Intake Appointment – 90 minutes during which Dr. Dug provides a more detailed explanation of treatment and does the first clinical hypnotherapy treatment.
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Session 2 – 55 minutes – 2nd round of clinical hypnotherapy. Patient receives a self-hypnosis recording to use every day between appointments.
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Sessions 3-7 – 55 minutes – clinical hypnotherapy with intermittent evaluations to measure improvement of symptoms.
Please note that many patients' symptoms improve before session 7, in which case treatment can either terminate or progress into the ACT Phase.
Clinical Hypnotherapy Phase
ACT Phase
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) takes place over 7 weekly or biweekly sessions and the patient completes homework and behavioral tasks at home.
ACT treatment looks a lot more like traditional talk therapy and the goal is to live the type of life you want to live.
ACT Phase
My Personal GI Journey
As a teenager, the only GI problem I noticed was that I hated wearing anything that had a tight waistband because I would feel like I couldn’t digest food or water and would become very gassy. The true GI problems did not really reveal themselves until I was well into adulthood...
