Cognitive therapy for irritable bowel syndrome: Improving clinical decision making and treatment efficiency through behavioral case formulation

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder characterized by a cluster of symptoms including abdominal pain or discomfort associated with altered bowel habits (e.g. diarrhea, constipation) in the absence of organic disease. Because the locus of the problem is in how the gut functions, not abnormalities in its physical structure, IBS is considered a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder. Of the 25 functional GI disorders, IBS is the most prevalent, costly, and disabling.