Psychedelic-assisted Therapy as a Promising Treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology February 17, 2025 Erin Mauney, Franklin King, Helen Burton-Murray et al. 3 citations
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is common and often disabling, with many patients not helped by current treatments. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), using agents like psilocybin in a psychotherapeutic setting, has shown promise for certain psychiatric and chronic pain conditions. This editorial argues that PAT may also benefit IBS, based on three lines of evidence: psychological mechanisms from historic psychedelic studies for chronic pain, central nervous system effects like modulation of the default mode network and neuroplasticity, and the neurointestinal pathophysiology of IBS that PAT could modify. The authors suggest PAT is worthy of study as a new therapy for IBS and other disorders of gut-brain interaction, potentially moving beyond mind-body dualism.