Prediction of outcome from the self-regulatory treatment of irritable bowel syndrome

A summary of five small-scale studies of a multicomponent self-regulatory treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) revealed that 58% of the 45 patients had primary GI symptoms reduced by at least 50%. From a variety of psychological tests, psychosocial and symptom diary variables, a prediction equation accounting for a modest 15% of the variance in outcome was found. Trait anxiety, however, was found to have noticeable clinical utility as an individual predictor of outcome; 70% of patients who initially scored 40 or lower were clinically improved.