Check out what is in an article at WebMD :
In the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20 men and 55 women received between five and seven half-hour hypnotherapy sessions over a three-month period. During the sessions, each patient was instructed to place his or her hands on the site of maximum abdominal discomfort and induce feelings of warmth and comfort in that region.
The therapist also told patients to imagine their gut as a river that changes how it flows. Constipated patients were told to envision the river as motionless and then freely flowing. Patients with diarrhea were told to imagine the river flowing more slowly.
Afterwards, patients reported a 5% reduction in abdominal pain and a 4% reduction in abdominal bloating.
Uhh… where do I start? First off, that's just crazy. That reminds me of an episode of Beavis & Butt-head, where Beavis was on the toilet and trying to use manners, saying things like : "Please come out of my butt."
Second, what's up with only a 4% to 5% reduction? That could just happen on its own, that 5% of the people have less pain after a few hours. And would you want to sit through 5 to 7.5 hours of hypnotherapy for just a 5% chance of feeling better? Why is this even on the site?
Buffet o' Blog 
Kri'
Well… there goes the credibility rating of WebMD. And just when I was about to check their site for helpful info regarding my gaseous behaviors!! Oh well, I will have to look elsewhere for help now… sigh…
Cheez
let’s think about the other percentage of those suffering from diarrhea, who didn’t fair so well. Did they have to do their hypnosis session while in the can? And besides, who can relax long enough for hypnotherapy while the explosive juices are gurgling down deep inside one’s lower intestinal tract. I’m sorry, but hearing, “now, go to your happy place” while thinking about tobasco sauce spraying the bowl, will NOT be well received. These people are los nutsos.
Not a Doctor, but stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
Was this test done by real researchers? With a control group, and a placebo? (ie someone who isn’t a hynotist, but pretends to be) The 4% 5% numbers sounds awfully fishy, but there were other numbers in the article, like 30% improvement in emotional quality of life? What male would admit to something like that, and how would you justify/measure it? Does insurance cover EQoL? This study smells like a bunch of crap to me. I think the best part of the article has got to be the phrase ‘altered bowel habits’.
Bowels Aflame
And what if they can’t get one of that 4 or 5%’s bowels to snap out of hypnosis. With relaxed (not to be confused with re-laxed) bowels like that, the crap would start to back up really quickly. The result: Have you ever seen that Naked Gun movie (I can’t remember which one) where Frank Drebin shoves the fire hose into the bad guy’s mouth and turns the faucet on and when he goes to turn it off, the handle breaks off? The guy exploded everywhere. This, if given time, would be the result of a permanently hypnotized bowel. Digestion would cease, the crap would stack up, then POW, you explode like that guy on that movie. Not a pretty sight. My advice is to avoid this dangerous procedure and celebrate your good judgment by going to Taco Bell for bean burritos and pintos & cheese. And the sauce? FIRE!!!
Crappo the Clown
Lemme see if I understand… So when you’re constipated, you should imagine yourself taking a dump, with it freely flowing. And when you have diarrhea, imagine the crap coming out of your butt slower… That doesn’t seem to work for me. But perhaps it will work 5% of the time and I just haven’t tried it enough…
Buck Elvis
What do you do? Swing a frickin watch in front of your rectal schincter. Look deep into my butt … You are getting sleepy. Your anus is a beautiful stream of brown seeping feces. Your turds are happy mudsnakes.
I am imagining a river of doo doo logs moving… oh man someone has a really loud boat on my river.
(If the bowels are the river, what is the butthole?)
Buck Elvis
I wonder if you could do like a magic act and have people crap on command on stage. Or you could just ring a bell and make them fart!
Important Doctor
This study has me more than just a bit concerned… I truly have wonder about this study… Think about it… just WHAT do you think is going to happen if you have a ‘patient’ that’s suffering from diarrhea & once fully put under hypnosis and you tell him to ‘relax’ LOOKOUT! I daresay the night-janitor will NOT be please at what he finds on the table… floor… and other objects in close proximity… even if this only happens 5% of the time… that’s 5% TOO MUCH! (ask the janitor, he’ll agree) I’d rather be trapped in a cage with poop-flinging monkeys than standing on the ‘south’-end of a table occupied by a hypnotized diarrhetic doing relaxation techniques… 🙂
Buck Elvis
If this really works, it could be a weapon of mass destruction. You could hypnotize a bunch of folks via TV and make, like, 18 million viewers dump themselves simultaneously. Or worse give and entire nation contipation.
Crappo the Clown
18 million viewers with diarrhea, eh? This sounds vaguely familiar. I think it was written about in the book of Sanitations : “And out of their butts shall flow rivers of dirty water.” Or something like that. Either way, I don’t want to be in that number.
I’ve heard some people are actually trying to make a weapon with something like this, using the “brown note” frequency. You may not believe me, but ask yourself, “Why would I be making this up?”
Paul the Apostate
Dear Mr. Crappo,
I’m flattered that you would quote the book of Sanitations from the Bathroom Bible. I happen to be the author of this particular book (Sanitations). It’s good to see that word is getting out. Please continue to warn people of the wrath to come!
P. T. A.
Beppo
Let me explain the reference to the book of Sanitations, so it’s not just an inside joke between a few of us. I have called Fab by the nickname “Rey Del Baño” on e-mail, meaning King of the Bathroom. Somehow an e-mail conversation between a few of us turned to flatulence, and around that time we happened to be studying the book of Revelation at church, and the following is what resulted from that strange mixture of circumstances. Since I called Fab “Rey Del Baño”, he said :
So I will soon ascend the throne in accordance with the words of the prophet Beppo in the book of Sanitations 7:4-11, 4″And he will have gas and shall bring forth a turd in due time, 5 the likes of which the world has never seen. 6 The throne shall be a nasal abomination, 7 and shall contain the judgement and fury that is poured out on the earth. 8 For it is the eighth bowl of judgement to be poured out onto the peoples of the earth and who can stand? 9 For it (gas) shall come to pass as the latrine king takes his place of majestic splendor upon the throne of his fathers. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall fall down in terror and tremble because of the rancid waste that pours forth from the back parts of the prince of the power of the polluted air.”