An accumulating body of evidence indicates that a specific psychological treatment called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is associated with significant reductions in pain and bowel dysfunction of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Despite its apparent efficacy, the clinical effectiveness of CBT (i.e., its generalizability, feasibility, cost effectiveness) has not been adequately established due partly to its duration, cost, and limited accessibility. As the """"""""second generation"""""""" of IBS treatments undergo development and validation, it has become increasingly clear that efficacy demonstration is a necessary but not sufficient condition of treatment viability. One potential solution to the problem of clinical effectiveness is to develop a briefer, largely self administered version of CBT that retains the efficacy of standard CBT but is more transportable, accessible, and less costly to deliver. To this end, a two-stage project is proposed. The goals of the first stage will be to develop, refine, and pilot test an innovative limited therapist contact-CBT protocol patterned after treatments proven effective for painful medical disorders with similar pathophysiology as IBS. The primary aim of the second stage is to conduct a small randomized clinical trial (N = 75 patients meeting Rome II diagnostic criteria) of standard (10 session) version of CBT (S-CBT) and limited contact (4 session) version of CBT (LC-CBT) with reference to a waitlist control to examine their comparative efficacy on multiple indices, including IBS symptoms (primary outcome variable), psychological distress, and quality of life. Secondary aims are (1) to identify patient characteristics that predict outcome; (2) obtain information regarding active change-inducing mechanisms that may underlie treatment outcome; and (3) obtain information regarding possible monetary benefits, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit of S-CBT versus LC-CBT protocols. Data from this trial would set the stage for an R01 funded multicenter study with a large, random, and representative sample that could establish the clinical effectiveness of LC-CBT and in so doing make a significant contribution toward more efficient and effective care of IBS.
