Brain Changes Underlying Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptom Improvement in Response to Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction

Key Points

• This research aims to examine how mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) affects brain changes and improves symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• Compared brain connectivity between IBS responders and nonresponders to MBSR
• Analyzed resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) changes
• Measured symptom severity in IBS patients before and after MBSR
• Responders showed widespread changes in RSFC
• Shift from inward, ruminative focus to external attention
• MBSR correlated with reduced IBS symptom severity