Brain-Gut Communication: The Crucial Connection Between Chronic Gastrointestinal Illnesses and Your Mental Health
- Autumn Yates
- Mar 23
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 24
Have you ever noticed how stress can upset your stomach or how uncomfortable GI issues can affect your mental well-being? This is due to a crucial connection known as the gut-brain axis, which is an essential part of both physical and mental health.
Brain-gut communication is even more relevant for individuals suffering from chronic gastrointestinal illnesses, especially if they are struggling to find ways to curb their symptoms. Continue reading to learn more about this important mind-body connection and how specialized mental health treatment can improve GI health.
Healthy Brain-Gut Communication
Essentially, your brain and your gut are connected to each other. They communicate constantly via the central nervous system (composed of the brain and spinal cord) and the enteric nervous system (composed of the neurons found within the walls of the gastrointestinal tract). This communication includes important, healthy functions such as letting us know when we are hungry, full, or impacted by a stomach virus or other temporary illnesses.
Chronic GI Illnesses that Affect Brain-Gut Communication
While communication between the gut and brain is essential to both mental health and GI health, certain illnesses can break down or alter this interaction. Such gastrointestinal chronic illnesses can include:
Disorders of the Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBIs or what used to be called Functional GI Disorders) - a wide array of disorders that reflect a disruption of the gut-brain interaction mentioned above, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Functional Abdominal Pain (FAP).
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) - an umbrella term used to cover disorders such as:
Crohn’s Disease - An inflammation of the tissues in the digestive tract
Ulcerative Colitis - An inflammation of the lining of the large intestine (including the colon) and rectum
Chronic Pain Disorders - a number of chronic pain disorders involve painful GI symptoms, including but not limited to:
POTS - A drastic increase in heart rate when standing up from a sitting or lying down position can lead to a number of symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea, and other GI complaints.
AMPS - Chronic, musculoskeletal pain can also include GI pain.
How do chronic GI illnesses and other challenges disrupt healthy brain-gut communication?
Chronic GI illnesses, in addition to other daily life disruptions such as external stress and
traumatic life experiences, can negatively impact brain-gut communication in two major ways. The first is known as Hypervigilance, which is when the brain essentially goes on high alert, constantly monitoring for gut-related issues. The second is called Visceral Hypersensitivity, which is when the brain and nervous system become hypersensitive to normal GI sensations, amplifying or misinterpreting them as heightened pain and discomfort.
Hypervigilance and Hypersensitivity can work together to exacerbate GI issues, causing an increase in distressing symptoms. The greater pain and discomfort can in turn lead to more hypervigilance and hypersensitivity, resulting in a vicious cycle.
Treatment for Brain-Gut Communication Disruptions
When individuals experience debilitating GI problems, they often rightfully seek out treatment from a gastroenterologist or other specialist, which can drastically help reduce their symptoms. But what happens if they continue to experience pain and discomfort after exploring a variety of treatment options?
In circumstances such as these, it is important to remember the existence of that brain-gut connection. It is not uncommon for individuals to find healing from a combination of GI treatment and mental health support.
Our office recently welcomed a visit from GI Psychology, a Northern Virginia-based mental health practice that specializes in treating individuals with chronic GI illnesses all across the US. The GI Psychology team explained that they use two primary forms of treatment when working with their child, adolescent, and adult telehealth patients :
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - this approach (which our own practice uses to treat a number of mental health conditions) can be applied to GI patients by reprogramming the thinking patterns that can exacerbate those troubling GI symptoms.
Clinical Hypnosis - Not to be confused with the “entertainment hypnosis” that is often seen on stage or screen, clinical hypnosis is performed under the care of a trained mental health professional. After entering a trance through a variety of deep relaxation techniques, gut-directed imagery and targeted suggestions are utilized to help reduce gut hypersensitivity, increase digestive functioning, and improve autonomic nervous system regulation. Hypnosis patients are conscious and have complete control during the entire process.
GI Psychology reports that with a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and clinical hypnosis over an average of ten sessions, 80% of their patients reach their treatment goals.
How to Learn More
If you are suffering from chronic GI symptoms and want to explore treatment options that respect the gut-brain connection, there are a few routes you can take:
Talk to your mental health professional for more resources or a referral to a GI mental health specialist.
Check with your gastroenterologist to see if they partner with a GI-focused mental health clinician.
Reach out directly to GI Psychology to learn more about their exclusive telehealth offerings, optional skill groups, and potential insurance reimbursement.
No matter how you get there, we hope you find support for the symptoms you are experiencing. As always, we are honored to be a part of your healing journey.