The effectiveness of the unified protocol on symptoms, quality of life, negative affect, and negative reactivity in irritable bowel syndrome patients in comorbidity with anxiety and depression

Abstract

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS ( is a prevalent gastrointestinal dysfunction characterised by chronic abdominal pain and changes in bowel movement. Unified protocol is based on emotion regulations skills and can be used for a wide range of emotional disorders. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of unified protocol on Symptoms, Quality of Life, Negative Affect and Negative Reactivity in IBS patient's in comorbidity with anxiety and depression. Method: This study was a quasi-experimental study with a control group (n = 13) and an intervention group (n = 12) with random assignment and pre-test post-test with a three-month follow-up after treatment. In this study, the population included all of the patients with irritable bowel syndrome and the sample included the patients referring to Taleghani Hospital in 2020. Data were analyzed through repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The results of repeated measures ANOVA indicated that the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, depression, negative affect, and fear of emotions, anxiety sensitivity, repetitive negative thinking, and the quality of life in the intervention group reduced over time compared to the control group and the difference between the means of two groups was statistically significant. Discussion and conclusion: In general, the results of this study showed that the unified protocol is effective on gastrointestinal symptoms and accompanying anxiety, depression symptoms and it can reduce both the symptoms of negative affect and the negative reactivity to emotions and also improve the quality of life of patients.