Trust Your Gut: Evidence-Based Practices For The Treatment Of Gastrointestinal Disorders

Length
2 hour

CE Credit
2.0 unit

Recorded
November 14, 2025

Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders are prevalent and can have significant impact on both physical and psychological quality of life. Many clinicians don’t receive information or training around working with GI disorders unless they specifically seek it out. It can be common for the clients we work with to present with GI distress that is often intertwined with anxiety or other mental health issues.

This presentation aims to teach participants about GI disorders and their common symptoms, and give an overview of the empirically supported psychological treatments for working with GI disorders and relevant tools that clinicians can use with their clients.

Training Options

There are several ways to learn from this training. You can either watch the recording for free or take the self-paced course for CE credit. We also have the slides available to download.

Watch Recording

(Free) You can watch the full recording of this training for free on our YouTube Channel. This is perfect if you’re not seeking CE credit or would like to preview the training before taking the course.

Self-Paced Course (2 CE)s

($37) You can receive 2 hours of self-paced, asynchronous CE credit for this training.

UCEBT is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. UCEBT maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Additionally, this presentation is approved for 2 hours of home-study CE credit through NASW-UT, UAMFT, and UMHCA.

Presentation Slides

Follow along with the recording by downloading the presentation slides personal use.

However, please note that no part of the materials available through the Utah Center for Evidence Based Treatment may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the presenter and creator of the presentation. Contact info@ucebt.com for questions.

About This Training

This presentation will begin with an overview of the most common GI disorders (IBS, colitis, dyspepsia, FGID), their symptoms, and their interactions with mental health. It will specifically outline the differences between structural and functional GI issues, key features of functional GI disorders, and will provide a brief overview of medical treatments (meds, ostomy procedures, etc.) for these issues. The presentation will continue with a discussion of the current findings on effective psychological treatment for GI disorders (GI-CBT, gut-directed hypnotherapy/clinical hypnosis for IBS, ACT, CBT, psychoeducation, relaxation/biofeedback assisted relaxation training, and lifestyle/behavioral medicine strategies). The presentation will conclude with a case study to show a clinical presentation of a client with GI issues and discuss how different interventions could be utilized.

Learning Objectives:

List 2 treatments that have shown to be effective in treating GI disorders
Identify primary symptoms of 1-2 GI disorders
Apply 2-3 concepts from this presentation to their work with clients who experience GI issues

About the Presenter

Dr. Rachel Armstrong obtained her doctorate from William James College in Boston, MA. She received training and clinical experience in behavioral health interventions and health psychology, including training in clinical hypnosis for IBS, biofeedback assisted relaxation training, and behavioral medicine interventions. She completed her APA-accredited internship at LifeStance Health where she gained experience working in integrated behavioral health settings. Currently, Dr. Armstrong is a postdoctoral fellow at UCEBT.

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References

Drossman D. A. (2016). Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: History, Pathophysiology, Clinical Features and Rome IV. Gastroenterology, S0016-5085(16)00223-7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2016.02.032

Feingold, J., Murray, H. B., & Keefer, L. (2019). Recent Advances in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Digestive Disorders and the Role of Applied Positive Psychology Across the Spectrum of GI Care. Journal of clinical gastroenterology, 53(7), 477–485. https://doi.org/10.1097/MCG.0000000000001234

Fikree, A., & Byrne, P. (2021). Management of functional gastrointestinal disorders. Clinical Medicine, 21(1), 44-52. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7850201/

Palsson, O. S., & Ballou, S. (2020). Hypnosis and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for the Management of Gastrointestinal Disorders. Current gastroenterology reports, 22(7), 31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11894-020-00769-z

Reed, B., Buzenski, J., & van Tilburg, M. A. L. (2020). Implementing psychological therapies for gastrointestinal disorders in pediatrics. Expert review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 14(11), 1061–1067. https://doi.org/10.1080/17474124.2020.1806055