British researchers investigated whether hypnotherapy can relieve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in the short term. 204 patients prospectively completed questionnaires scoring symptoms, quality of life, anxiety and depression before, immediately after and up to 6 years following hypnotherapy. All subjects also subjectively assessed the effects of hypnotherapy retrospectively in order to define their ‘responder status’. Initially, 71% of patients responded to therapy. Of these, 81% maintained their improvement over time while the majority of the remaining 19% claimed that the deterioration of symptoms had only been slight. With respect to symptom scores, all items at follow-up were significantly improved on pre-hypnotherapy levels and showed little change from post-hypnotherapy values. There were no significant differences in the symptom scores between patients assessed at 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5+ years following treatment. Quality-of-life and anxiety or depression scores were similarly still significantly improved at follow-up but did show some deterioration. Patients also reported a reduction in consultation rates and medication use following the completion of hypnotherapy.