Nerva vs Curable

Nerva vs Curable: which one is built for IBS?

Both programs work on the connection between the brain and the body. One was built and studied for IBS, the other for chronic pain. Here is what each has shown, side by side.

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The short answer

Different conditions, the same idea.

Nerva is a digital digestive care program for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and it has been tested in a randomized trial of people with IBS. Curable is a pain education and mind-body app for chronic pain, such as back pain and migraine, and it has been tested in a randomized trial of people with chronic pain. Curable lists IBS among the conditions its users have, but it has not published outcomes in IBS.

If your main problem is IBS, Nerva is the one designed and studied for it. If your main problem is chronic pain, Curable is.

The question people ask

Does Curable work for IBS?

Curable does not say it does, and no study has tested it. Its site lists “IBS/Chronic GI Issues” among the conditions its users have, and describes IBS as one of the “neuroplastic” conditions its approach applies to. That premise is reasonable: IBS is classified as a disorder of gut-brain interaction, and the idea that a sensitized nervous system amplifies symptoms is the same idea behind Nerva.

But Curable’s evidence is in chronic pain. Its randomized trial enrolled adults with chronic pain and measured pain, not gut symptoms.³ Its user survey, which reports that 68% of respondents felt reduced physical symptoms after 30 days, pools every condition together and is not broken down for IBS. So a person with IBS trying Curable is extrapolating from pain research to gut symptoms. That may work for some people. It has not been measured.

Evidence in IBS

What has been shown in people with IBS.

Only results measured in people with IBS count here. “Not measured” means no published result exists, not that a program does not work.

What Nerva and Curable have shown in people with IBS
Compare	Nerva	Curable
Randomized trial in people with IBS	Yes. 244 adults with IBS randomized, 240 analysed, against an active control.¹	None published or registered that we could find.
Symptom result in IBS	81% had a clinically significant improvement in IBS symptom severity (a drop of 50 points or more on the IBS-SSS) at the end of the program, vs 63% on the active control.¹	Not measured.
Abdominal pain result in IBS	71% had a clinically significant decrease in abdominal pain at 6 weeks, vs 35% on the active control.¹	Not measured.
Quality of life in IBS	IBS quality of life improved by 14 points, vs 7 on the active control.¹	Not measured. Its survey figure pools every condition together.
Real-world data in IBS	In a retrospective evaluation of app users, 64% of people who completed the program had more than 30% less abdominal pain.⁵ Uncontrolled, completers only.	None broken out for IBS.
The therapy in IBS guidelines	Gut-directed hypnotherapy is named in ACG, BSG and NICE IBS guidance. No guideline names an app.	Its techniques are not IBS-specific; no IBS guideline names them or the app.

Nerva’s trial was funded by Mindset Health, the company that makes Nerva, and one author co-created the program. Its results apply to the studied 42-session program. Individual results vary. The programs have never been tested against each other.

At a glance

The two programs side by side.

Nerva and Curable at a glance
Compare	Nerva	Curable
Built for	IBS and gut-brain symptoms.	Chronic pain: back pain, migraine and headache, nerve pain, pelvic pain, fibromyalgia.
Core approach	Brain-gut behavioral care, including gut-directed hypnotherapy, with dietary guidance, symptom tracking, clinical screening and escalation when needed.	Pain science education, guided meditation, visualization, CBT techniques and expressive writing.
Format	A structured six-week core program with guided sessions of around 15 minutes a day, then continued maintenance access.	An open library of 100+ exercises guided by a virtual coach, at your own pace.
Randomized trial of the app itself	240 adults with IBS, active control. Am J Gastroenterol, 2025.¹	198 adults with chronic pain, wait-list control. Can J Pain, 2024.³
Who funded that trial	Mindset Health, the company that makes Nerva.	No funding source; independent university researchers.
Free trial	7 days.	14 days.
Price	$199 USD for 12 months, or $149.25 USD with a clinician referral. Check access options.	Listed at about $11 a month for the first year, billed annually, renewing at about $22.50 a month. Prices move and differ by store; check Curable’s site.
Financial help	Patient Assistance Program. HSA/FSA with a Letter of Medical Necessity.	HSA/FSA eligible.
Where it runs	iOS and Android.	iOS, Android and web.
Clinician pathway	Referral form, 25% patient discount, progress sharing.	Free clinician account; clinicians can offer patients six weeks free.
Regulatory status	Self-guided program; not evaluated by the FDA.	Informational service; not FDA cleared.

Published by Mindset Health, the maker of Nerva. This is not an independent ranking, and no scores are assigned. Descriptions of Curable come from its official site, its App Store listing and its published trial, checked September 23, 2026, and can change. The programs differ in scope; this comparison does not imply that one produces better outcomes than the other.

Common ground

What they have in common.

Both programs start from the same science. Symptoms like pain and gut distress are processed by the nervous system, and a sensitized nervous system can turn the volume up. Both teach you how that works, and both give you daily practice to turn it down. Both are self-guided, both run on your phone, and both are meant to sit alongside your medical care, not replace it.

Both also rest on the same kind of evidence base: an earlier trial of the therapy delivered by a therapist, then one randomized trial of the app in the condition it was built for.

The research

The two trials, side by side.

Nerva · IBS

A randomized trial against an active control

In a randomized controlled trial published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 244 adults with IBS were randomized and 240 received a 42-session digital program either with or without gut-directed hypnotherapy. At the end of the program, 81% of the hypnotherapy group had a clinically significant improvement in IBS symptom severity (a drop of 50 points or more on the IBS-SSS), compared with 63% of the active control group. 71% had a clinically significant decrease in abdominal pain, compared with 35% on the control.¹ The trial was funded by Mindset Health, and one author co-created Nerva. Individual results vary.

The therapy behind it was tested first in a Monash University study of 74 adults, where therapist-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy and the low-FODMAP diet both improved symptoms, with no detected difference between them.² That study did not test the Nerva app.

Gut-directed hypnotherapy is included in IBS guidance from the American College of Gastroenterology, the British Society of Gastroenterology and NICE.⁶ None of them names or endorses an app.

Read the Nerva trial →

Curable · chronic pain

An independent randomized trial against a wait-list

In a randomized controlled trial published in the Canadian Journal of Pain, 198 adults with long-standing chronic pain used Curable for six weeks or stayed on a wait-list. The app group reported lower pain severity (0.67 points lower on a 10-point scale) and less interference from pain in daily life, along with improvements in anxiety, stress and pain catastrophizing.³ The researchers were independent of Curable, the study had no funding, and it won the journal’s paper of the year award. IBS was not a studied condition.

One of Curable’s core techniques, pain reprocessing therapy, was tested with therapists in a 2022 JAMA Psychiatry trial in chronic back pain.⁴ That study did not test the Curable app.

Read the Curable trial →

How to read the two

These trials measured different conditions with different scales, so the numbers cannot be compared with each other. Two design points are worth knowing. Nerva’s trial used an active control, a version of the same program without the hypnotherapy, which is a harder test to pass than a wait-list because the comparison group also gets attention, education and an app. Curable’s trial was run and funded independently of the company, which Nerva’s was not.

Who each one suits

Match the program to the problem.

Nerva is likely the better fit if…

You have IBS diagnosed by a doctor, and gut symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea or constipation are what you most want to change.
You want a program that has been studied in people with IBS, with IBS outcomes measured.
You want a structured plan: a six-week core program, around 15 minutes a day, that tells you what to do next.
You want an option beyond, or alongside, a restrictive diet.
Your doctor or dietitian has suggested gut-directed hypnotherapy.

Explore the Nerva program →

Curable is likely the better fit if…

Your main problem is chronic pain: back or neck pain, migraine, nerve pain, pelvic pain or fibromyalgia.
You want to understand pain science in depth and like learning through lessons, writing and podcasts.
You prefer an open library to a fixed daily schedule.
You want to use it in a web browser.

Visit Curable →

Can you use both?

Yes. IBS and chronic pain conditions often occur together, and the two programs do not conflict. If you are choosing where to start, start with the condition that affects your life most. Both ask for a daily habit, and one habit is easier to keep than two.

For clinicians

If a patient asks about Curable for IBS, the relevant facts are that Curable lists IBS among its users’ conditions but has published no IBS outcomes, and that its trial population was chronic pain. For IBS, the questions are whether the therapy is guideline-supported for IBS (gut-directed hypnotherapy is, as a class) and whether the digital version has been tested in IBS (Nerva’s has, in one company-funded randomized trial with an active control). For chronic primary pain without a gut component, Curable’s trial population is the closer match. Neither app has been evaluated by the FDA, and neither replaces assessment of red-flag symptoms. Refer a patient to Nerva.

The Nerva difference

Clinical evidence behind Nerva.

Nerva’s digital gut-directed hypnotherapy program was evaluated in a randomized trial in people with IBS. Here is what it found.

Abdominal-pain & IBS-SSS responders at program completion · Anderson/Peters/Gibson/Halmos, AJG 2025 · N=244

The American Journal of Gastroenterology

81%¹

of participants met the primary symptom endpoint, compared with 63% on active control.

Randomized controlled trial · N=244 · active control · AJG 2025 Read the research →

clinically significant abdominal-pain reduction, compared with 35% on control: 71%
adults randomized against a matched psychoeducation control: 244

244 adults with IBS were randomized; 240 received the programs. The primary endpoint was a decrease of at least 50 points on the IBS Symptom Severity Scale at program completion. The trial evaluated a 42-session digital program with and without gut-directed hypnotherapy; its results apply to that studied intervention. Individual results vary.

Independent evaluation by PHTI

“Within the evidence reviewed, Nerva presented the strongest overall evidence for improving IBS symptoms.”
Peterson Health Technology InstituteVirtual Gastrointestinal Care Solutions, March 2026⁸

Before you start

Your questions, answered.

Is Curable good for IBS?

Curable is designed for chronic pain. It lists IBS and chronic GI issues among the conditions its users have, but it has not published any outcomes in people with IBS, and its randomized trial was in adults with chronic pain. Some people with IBS use it because the pain science it teaches overlaps with how gut pain works, but whether it helps IBS has not been measured.

Does Curable have research for IBS?

Not that we could find. Curable’s published trial measured pain in people with chronic pain, and its user survey pools all conditions together without an IBS breakdown. No trial of Curable in IBS is published or registered.

What evidence does Nerva have for IBS?

One randomized controlled trial in 244 adults with IBS, published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2025, in which 81% of the gut-directed hypnotherapy group had a clinically significant improvement in IBS symptom severity (a drop of 50 points or more on the IBS-SSS) at the end of the program, compared with 63% on an active control. The trial was funded by Mindset Health. Gut-directed hypnotherapy, one of the brain-gut behavioral approaches the program is built on, is named in ACG, BSG and NICE IBS guidance. See the results.

Is Nerva good for chronic pain like back pain or migraine?

No. Nerva is built for IBS and gut-brain symptoms, and its research is in IBS. For chronic pain outside the gut, a pain-focused program such as Curable is the closer fit.

Does Curable use hypnotherapy?

Not that we could find. Curable describes its methods as pain science education, meditation, visualization, CBT techniques and expressive writing.

Which has better evidence, Nerva or Curable?

Each has one randomized controlled trial of the app itself, in the condition it was built for. Nerva’s was in IBS, used an active control and was company-funded. Curable’s was in chronic pain, used a wait-list control and was independent. They have not been tested against each other, and only Nerva’s measured IBS.

Which costs less, Nerva or Curable?

Curable’s first-year price is lower. Nerva is $199 USD for 12 months, or $149.25 with a clinician referral, and has a Patient Assistance Program for people in financial hardship. Curable lists about $11 a month billed annually for the first year, renewing at about $22.50 a month. Check both sites for today’s prices. Explore Nerva access options.

Are Nerva and Curable FDA approved?

No. Neither has been evaluated or cleared by the FDA. Both are self-guided programs meant to be used alongside medical care.

Should I see a doctor before starting either program?

Yes. Get gut symptoms or persistent pain assessed before starting a self-guided program. Blood in your stool, unexplained weight loss, fever, or symptoms that wake you at night need prompt medical attention.

Sources

References.

Anderson EJ, Peters SL, Gibson PR, Halmos EP (2025). Comparison of digitally delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy program with an active control for IBS. Am J Gastroenterol 120(2):440–448. https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000002921
Peters SL, Yao CK, Philpott H, Yelland GW, Muir JG, Gibson PR (2016). Randomised clinical trial: the efficacy of gut-directed hypnotherapy is similar to that of the low FODMAP diet for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 44(5):447–459. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27397586/
Thomson CJ, Pahl H, Giles LV (2024). Randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of a multimodal mobile application for the treatment of chronic pain. Can J Pain 8(1):2352399. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11340744/
Ashar YK, Gordon A, Schubiner H, et al. (2022). Effect of pain reprocessing therapy vs placebo and usual care for patients with chronic back pain: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry 79(1):13–23. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34586357/
Peters SL, Gibson PR, Halmos EP (2023). Smartphone app-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy improves symptoms of self-reported irritable bowel syndrome: a retrospective evaluation. Neurogastroenterol Motil 35(4):e14533. https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.14533
Lacy BE, et al. (2021). ACG clinical guideline: management of irritable bowel syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol 116:17–44. Vasant DH, et al. (2021). British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of irritable bowel syndrome. Gut 70:1214–1240. NICE clinical guideline CG61, recommendation 1.2.3.1.
Curable condition and outcome statements: curablehealth.com (home, clinicians, science and groups pages) and its App Store listing, checked September 23, 2026.
Peterson Health Technology Institute (2026). Virtual Gastrointestinal Care Solutions Assessment Report, v1.1. https://www.phti.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PHTI-Virtual-GI-Care-Solutions-Assessment-Report-v1.1.pdf. Nerva was reviewed as evidence within the assessment; PHTI does not endorse products.

Built for IBS. Start with the free assessment.

Start with the free assessment and explore your personalized digestive care program. Review your access options before you begin.

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Nerva

Curable

Randomized trial in people with IBS

Yes. 244 adults with IBS randomized, 240 analysed, against an active control.¹

None published or registered that we could find.

Symptom result in IBS

81% had a clinically significant improvement in IBS symptom severity (a drop of 50 points or more on the IBS-SSS) at the end of the program, vs 63% on the active control.¹

Not measured.

Abdominal pain result in IBS

71% had a clinically significant decrease in abdominal pain at 6 weeks, vs 35% on the active control.¹

Not measured.

Quality of life in IBS

IBS quality of life improved by 14 points, vs 7 on the active control.¹

Not measured. Its survey figure pools every condition together.

Real-world data in IBS

In a retrospective evaluation of app users, 64% of people who completed the program had more than 30% less abdominal pain.⁵ Uncontrolled, completers only.

None broken out for IBS.

The therapy in IBS guidelines

Gut-directed hypnotherapy is named in ACG, BSG and NICE IBS guidance. No guideline names an app.

Its techniques are not IBS-specific; no IBS guideline names them or the app.

Nerva

Curable

Built for

IBS and gut-brain symptoms.

Chronic pain: back pain, migraine and headache, nerve pain, pelvic pain, fibromyalgia.

Core approach

Brain-gut behavioral care, including gut-directed hypnotherapy, with dietary guidance, symptom tracking, clinical screening and escalation when needed.

Pain science education, guided meditation, visualization, CBT techniques and expressive writing.

Format

A structured six-week core program with guided sessions of around 15 minutes a day, then continued maintenance access.

An open library of 100+ exercises guided by a virtual coach, at your own pace.

Randomized trial of the app itself

240 adults with IBS, active control. Am J Gastroenterol, 2025.¹

198 adults with chronic pain, wait-list control. Can J Pain, 2024.³

Who funded that trial

Mindset Health, the company that makes Nerva.

No funding source; independent university researchers.

Free trial

7 days.

14 days.

Price

$199 USD for 12 months, or $149.25 USD with a clinician referral. Check access options.

Listed at about $11 a month for the first year, billed annually, renewing at about $22.50 a month. Prices move and differ by store; check Curable’s site.

Financial help

Patient Assistance Program. HSA/FSA with a Letter of Medical Necessity.

HSA/FSA eligible.

Where it runs

iOS and Android.

iOS, Android and web.

Clinician pathway

Referral form, 25% patient discount, progress sharing.

Free clinician account; clinicians can offer patients six weeks free.

Regulatory status

Self-guided program; not evaluated by the FDA.

Informational service; not FDA cleared.