Objective: Functional dyspepsia is a common chronic digestive disorder. The purpose of this study was comparing the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy and anti-anxiety medication on anxiety and digestive symptoms of patients with functional dyspepsia.

Methods: The present study was a randomized, controlled clinical trial with 60 patients suffering from functional dyspepsia that referred to the gastroenterology clinic of Valiasr Hospital of Birjand from September 2016 to April 2017 and were identified by ROME III criteria. These patients were divided in three groups with 20 patients in each of them including: A (dialectal treatment & pantoprazole), B (anxiolytic drug treatment & pantoprazole), and C (no intervention, only pantoprazole were used) by using pretest-posttest design.

Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean of severity of dyspepsia symptoms (P = 0.6) and Beck anxiety score (P = 0.6) in three groups before intervention. But after intervention, significant difference was observed between the severity of dyspepsia symptoms (P = 0.001) and Beck anxiety score (P = 0.001) in the three groups. After intervention, severity of dyspeptic symptoms and Beck anxiety score were improved in dialectical behavioral therapy and anti-anxiety drug treatment groups. Also, there was a significant difference between the mean score of severity of dyspeptic symptoms in the dialectic behavior therapy group (P = 0.01) and anti-anxiety treatment (P = 0.01) at the beginning and the end of the study, but there was no significant differences between mean score of severity in dyspepsia symptoms in the control group at baseline and in the outcome of the study (P = 0.2).

Conclusion: Dialectic behavioral therapy can be effective in reducing anxiety and improving the dyspepsia symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia.