Mindfulness therapy reduced distress during inflammatory bowel disease remission
Among distressed patients whose inflammatory bowel disease was in remission, adding group mindfulness therapy to usual care reduced psychological distress, while flare occurrence showed no difference.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
For distressed patients whose bowel disease was in remission, adding mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduced distress and improved well-being after the program, with effects maintained over follow-up. Flare occurrence showed no difference. Changes in sleep measurements and an inflammation marker do not establish that participants had better sleep overall or better control of their bowel disease.
The abstract reports standardized effects without raw distress-score changes or confidence intervals. Sleep measurements were exploratory, and the inflammation-marker change cannot substitute for an improvement in clinical flare outcomes.
What researchers found
Distress after the program
Compared with usual care alone at 3 months; the abstract reports a statistically significant reduction without raw score differences.
What the comparison tested
Both groups continued usual treatment, so the question concerned adding a group psychological program. Participants already had distress despite disease remission; the findings therefore concern this specific clinical group rather than everyone with inflammatory bowel disease.
Reading the sleep findings
Objective sleep recordings showed less total sleep time alongside a larger proportion of deep sleep. Those changes describe sleep patterns. The abstract does not establish that this combination represented better sleep for participants.
The original publication
Group-Delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to Reduce Psychological Distress and Improve Sleep in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial (MindIBD).
Ter Avest MM, Huijbers MJ, Horjus CS et al.
Inflamm Bowel Dis · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40658641
- Record checked
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