Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Group
Help is on the way: Support for individuals, couples and families in the community.
What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a severe chronic illness, and like all other chronic illnesses, it has a very high comorbidity with psychological symptoms, including distress/anxiety (e.g., feeling wound up, inability to relax, feelings of panic and worry) and depression (e.g., lost interest in enjoyable activities, feeling sad and unhappy, slowed down, lacking energy). Psychologists and medical practitioners have found consistent relationships between IBD and a range of related psychological concerns including diminished energy, impaired sense of control (due to an unknown disease course), impaired body image, increased isolation and fear, and feeling 'dirty'.
Program Details
The aim of this 10 week group psychological intervention program is to help you identify problematic responses to your disease and subsequent negative feelings associated with it. A further aim of the program is to identify more practical strategies to manage your symptoms.
The 10 sessions will provide an introduction to various therapeutic techniques, including: Monitored slow breathing and relaxation, using mindfulness and acceptance to manage your IBD and associated symptoms, identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts that may drive your anxiety and depressions and/or negative sense of self, problem solving and dealing with worry, and also pain management associated with IBD.
The psychological intervention program is based on a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). CBT is currently the most popular and effective psychological treatment to date. It has been successfully used help individuals better adapt to an ongoing serious chronic illness and associated concerns (e.g., anxiety, depression, etc).
In brief, CBT is a short-term therapy that focuses on our cognitions, that is the way we think and its relationship to our feelings (e.g., feeling anxious) and behaviours (e.g., avoiding anxious situations). An important aspect of CBT is the active involvement of the patient in directing and engaging of the therapeutic process. Every week you will be asked to complete a range of homework activities. These activities are designed to help you work toward your goal of reducing your IBD and related symptoms and improving quality of life. While we will cover quite a bit of material in the individual sessions, the majority of the work will be done by you in your own time in-between therapy sessions. ACT is a recent and modified version of CBT that aims to change the negative cycle of distress associated with illness. Like CBT, its strategies are focused on changing the way in which you relate or react to areas of your life that causes distress. Like CBT, the strategies reviewed in the sessions are designed to help you work toward your goal of reducing your IBD and related symptoms and improving quality of life.
Group Facilitator
The program will be facilitated by Dr Simon Knowles who is a Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Swinburne University of Technology. Simon is a registered Psychologist with an active private clinical-health practice that specializes in working with individuals with chronic illness of the gastrointestinal system. Simon also has an active research profile in exploring the brain-gut-axis and its relationship to Irritable Bowel Syndrome and IBD activity.
Program Fees
There is a $350 program fee (plus a $25.00 initial assessment session fee) to participate in the IBD Psychological Intervention Group Program. Options are available make pay for the group in up to three installments and this can be done by cash, cheque or credit card.
Join the Group
The next IBD Psychological Intervention Group Program is expected to commence early 2011. To find out how you can register to participate in this group contact the Project Officer on (03) 9214 5528.