Heart Rate Feedback Training to Help Teens with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

This trial is testing a new supportive care program for teenagers ages 13–18 who have inflammatory bowel disease and are also experiencing depression or anxiety. The program teaches coping skills and uses heart rate biofeedback—a technique that shows you your own heart's patterns in real time—to help you calm your nervous system. Researchers believe that by learning to control your stress response, you may feel better emotionally and experience fewer disease symptoms.

Many teenagers with inflammatory bowel disease struggle with anxiety and depression, which can make their physical symptoms worse. This trial exists because doctors believe that the stress and anxiety may be partly controlled by the nervous system's automatic responses, and helping teens learn to manage those responses could improve both their emotional health and their disease control.