Mindfulness en el síndrome de intestino irritable

Abstract

The Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional digestive disorder recognised as a
 Biopsychosocial model, because psychological, social and biological factors influence the
 development of its symptomatology. A high psychiatric comorbidity is frequently observed
 in patients with IBS associated to an increase in the severity of symptoms and a low-grade
 of inflammatory response. Although its pathophysiological mechanism has not been fully
 understood, an imbalance in bidirectional communication is described in the gut-brain axis that
 affects psychoneuroimmune status of IBS patients. Diverse psychotherapeutic interventions
 have been shown to be effective in reducing the psychosocial impact in IBS patients, as well
 as in reducing their intestinal symptoms. However, at the clinical practice, it is not routinely
 applied because of its high cost. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an
 alternative program that shown to be effective in reducing the clinical severity and improving
 the quality of life of patients with IBS. Although MBSR has demonstrated to reduce the levels
 of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, in healthy subjects and cancer’s patients, its
 effect on the immune response in IBS patients remains unknown. This review discusses the
 pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between psychosocial disturbances,
 clinical symptomatology and low-grade inflammation in IBS. Based on that, we present the
 arguments that allow proposing the use of MBSR for the IBS treatment.