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Medical care can be doing everything “right” and you can still feel wrecked, anxious, and trapped in a never-ending cycle of symptoms, appointments, and fear. That gap is where GI psychology lives, and it’s why we wanted Dr. Anna Katherine “AK” Black. AK is a licensed clinical health psychologist at GI Psychology, with a focus on gut-brain therapies, trauma-informed care, and medical fatigue in chronic illness.

We get into what clinical hypnosis actually is (no stage tricks, no mind control) and why gut-directed hypnotherapy has decades of research behind it for GI conditions. AK explains the gut-brain connection in plain language, including how stress can hijack the system, how visceral hypersensitivity turns the volume up on sensations, and why you can’t just tell your gut to “calm down” with conscious thoughts alone. We also talk about how fear and pain overlap, and why techniques that shift the nervous system toward parasympathetic regulation can change real physical symptoms.

Then we name the thing so many people feel but rarely hear described: medical fatigue. If you’ve ever canceled yet another appointment, struggled to keep up with meds and procedures, or felt judged as “noncompliant,” this conversation puts words to that burnout and offers practical next steps. We also cover trauma-informed care, what providers can do with better language and screening, and why integrated teams work best. AK shares resources and explains the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation partnership group that combines community with skills like CBT and hypnosis.

Subscribe for more real talk about living with IBD, share this with someone who needs it, and please leave a rating and review so more people can find the show. What part of the gut-brain story hit closest to home?

Links: 

• Join the IBD Psychotherapy Group
• Info on Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy

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