STRESS AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM: INSIGHTS INTO THE MIND–BODY RELATIONSHIP

Chronic nonspecific vomiting is a problem that frustrated the doctors as well as the client.Dr.Sarno M.D. (New York University’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation) argued in his four books and several journal publications that “we believe that a mind-body approach is more effective and involves less risk and less expensive than other approaches in appropriately diagnosed cases.” Objective: To determine if a mind –body treatment program me addressing a presumed psychological ideology of nonspecific cyclic vomiting syndrome merits further research. Design: A Case study. Setting: The PESIT Center for Counseling and Guidance, Bangalore. Interventions: A structured work book, Psycho-social education, diet therapy and individual counseling and integrative mind-body therapy. In this study the author examined the diagnostic results of all investigations to rule out any pathological cause for the persistent nonspecific cyclic vomiting and there by the individuals incapability to function fully as a person. Also examined and measured the results of treatment programmes derived for a psychosomatic (mindbody) approach to diagnosing and treating chronic nonspecific cyclic vomiting. The new paradigm is that a significant portion of nonspecific vomiting is psychosomatic, in the sense that its etiology is both psychological and physiological with the original cause being described at this time in psychological terms. This study does not however identify which aspects of the program me were instrumental in producing the results. This would require more sophisticated multiple clinical trials.