This review summarises the rationale, methodology and clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of hypnotherapy in patients with refractory IBS. Data sources used included English language articles published between 1966 and 2006, retrieved by a keyword search of biomedical electronic databases limited to Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Only randomised controlled trials of the use of hypnotherapy in patients with refractory IBS were included in the review.
