Counseling may be of benefit to someone suffering from IBS related anxiety. Learning deep breathing exercises & exploring your personal story may be helpful in reducing anxiety. Counselors vary greatly and some may be better than others when dealing with IBS. Do not feel the need to be locked down to a single counselor, there are some that are very bad at their job. Do not feel the need to do anything that is uncomfortable for you. There are some counselors who believe greatly in exposing patients to their fears. Exposure therapy may be worthwhile for someone, but for others it may only re-traumatize, so take everything with a grain of salt.

Author’s Experience

In my own experience with a counselor, I got the impression that they thought all I needed to do was go to college and all my problems would be solved. I got the feeling as though they thought I was being lazy. When I would bring up my physical symptoms usually the questioning resolved to it being my fault somehow for eating something that upset my stomach. We all know that trigger foods vary and it can be very hard to know what is going to trigger symptoms on a certain day in time. During this period I was actually dealing with a much more serious ailment, Gastroparesis and eventually went on to lose 65 lbs from my inability to eat. I was gravely ill and trying to relay this to this person, but they were suggesting going to college was my solution. I stopped seeing this counselor within a few visits. This just shows that you might not find the right person to work with initially. Don’t be afraid to part ways if you’re not feeling your counselor is understanding your condition.