What is the best IBS hypnotherapy app? Nerva vs The Calm Gut app

When you’re looking for help managing IBS, you’ll find a range of options - from traditional treatments and dietary changes to a growing number of apps claiming to calm your gut. Two names that might come up are Nerva and The Calm Gut app.

Both mention gut-directed hypnotherapy (GDH), but that’s where the similarity ends.
Nerva is a digital therapeutic - a structured, clinically validated program proven to help manage IBS symptoms.‍

The Calm Gut app, on the other hand, is a general wellness app that offers relaxation audios inspired by hypnotherapy but without clinical testing or published evidence.

Here’s what makes that difference meaningful.

Why evidence matters for IBS care

IBS isn’t just about stress or digestion - it’s a complex brain-gut condition. That means it responds best to interventions that retrain how the brain and gut communicate, not just ones that help you relax.

Nerva was built around this science. Its 6-week program combines gut-directed hypnotherapy, CBT, and breathing exercises to help users manage IBS symptoms and flare-ups at the root level.
In a randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology1, Nerva showed significant improvements in managing IBS symptom severity, abdominal pain, and anxiety compared to the control group.

By contrast, The Calm Gut app has not been evaluated in any peer-reviewed clinical trials. It offers a collection of audio tracks - helpful for general mindfulness and stress management, but not validated as an IBS program.

How do the apps compare?

  • Clinically validation:
    • Nerva has a randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology showing significant improvements in IBS symptom severity, abdominal pain, and anxiety management.
    • Beyond the RCT, Nerva has five real-world studies demonstrating real-world effectiveness across thousands of users.
    • The Calm Gut app has no published app-specific research or clinical trials.
  • Evidence:
    • Nerva was developed with Dr. Simone Peters, a gut-directed psychophysiologist with her own randomized contrilled trial.
    • The Calm Gut app is built around practitioner experience, not scientific validation. Lived experience is valuable, but it’s not a substitute for research.
  • Usage and reviews
    • Nerva has been used by over 300,000 people and recommended by more than 15,000 healthcare providers.
    • The Calm Gut app is a great wellness app used by a few thousand people.
  • Structure:
    • Nerva follows a 6-week program with daily sessions, psychoeducation, and breathing exercises - designed to retrain brain-gut signaling.
    • The Calm Gut app is an open audio library with 200+ recordings, similar to content you can find on youtube for free. Users can listen freely, but there’s no defined therapeutic structure or progression.
  • Clinical integration
    • Nerva provides provider discounts, clinician dashboards, research summaries, referral workflows, and outcomes tracking.
    • The Calm Gut app offers a practitioner discount but no integration tools or outcome data.
  • Access and trial period
    • Nerva is on iOS and Android while The Calm Gut App is also on web
    • Both programs offer a 7-day free trial

Why it matters

Whether you’re a patient looking for real relief or a clinician recommending care, the question is simple:
If you’re going to invest your time, effort, and money in a program, you want to know it works.

If you’re just looking for an app to help you relax, unwind, or explore mindfulness, The Calm Gut app can be a nice way to do that. It offers flexibility, calming audios, and a gentle introduction to mind-body concepts.

But if you’re looking for something that’s been clinically proven to help manage and live well with IBS symptoms - not just help you feel calm in the moment - that’s where Nerva stands apart.

Nerva has been evaluated in a randomized controlled trial, supported by five published real-world studies, and used by hundreds of thousands of people under the guidance of thousands of healthcare providers. It’s not just soothing - it’s structured, evidence-based, and built to work.

Because when it comes to IBS, calm isn’t enough.
It needs to be clinically effective.

If you're interested in trying Nerva and seeing if it will help you too, start our free quiz.

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