While Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common experience, it is not a challenge that many individuals - quite understandably - like to talk about or admit to struggling with. Unfortunately, many sufferers simply “learn to live with it”, but at the expense of flexibility and enjoyment in their lives around travel, commuting, sports, outdoor activities & relationships. Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy psychologist Dr. Kathryn Sexton joins host and colleague Dr. Pete Kelly to discuss IBS. Topics covered include current conceptualizations around the causes of IBS (with a special emphasis on stress), stigma as a maintaining and exacerbating factor, the prevalence, symptoms and diagnosis of IBS, differences between IBS and inflammatory bowel disorder (IBD), treatment of IBS from a CBT perspective, the role of acceptance in coping with IBS and finally, medical and alternative treatments for IBS.
Dr. Kathryn Sexton is registered as a Psychologist (Interim Autonomous Practice) with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and a registered Psychologist with the Psychological Association of Manitoba, practicing in the areas of both Clinical and Health Psychology. She specializes in cognitive behavioural treatments for anxiety and mood disorders and chronic stress. Her areas of special interest and experience are in the assessment and treatment of worry/generalized anxiety disorder, health anxiety, and insomnia, and in chronic stress and pain management related to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as IBD. Dr. Sexton received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Concordia University in Montreal, training in the Anxiety Disorders Laboratory. She completed her Pre-doctoral Residency at the Clinical Health Psychology Program within the College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. She conducted further postdoctoral training in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical and Research Centre at the University of Manitoba and Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. Dr. Sexton currently sits on the Board of the Canadian Association of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies - L’Association Canadienne des thérapies cognitives et comportementales (CACBT – ACTCC). Dr. Sexton is also an active researcher and has published several scientific articles and book chapters on cognitions and behaviours influencing worry/generalized anxiety disorder, health anxiety, and stress in chronic gastrointestinal diseases.