Culturally Adapted Psychological Intervention for the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent functional bowel disorder routinely encountered by healthcare providers although it's not life-threatening, this chronic disorder has ability to reduce patients' quality of life and imposes a significant economic burden to the healthcare system.Despite the high prevalence of IBS and its association with disability and adverse effect on health related quality of life we are not aware of any published trial of psychological intervention for IBS from Pakistan. We aim to test the feasibility and acceptability of culturally adapted Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for the management of IBS in Karachi, Pakistan compared to treatment as usual.