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Anxiety in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Preliminary Examination of the Effect of Fatigue, Physical Disability, and Low Self-Compassionate Attitude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

T. Carvalho ,
A.L. Côrte-Real Lopes Nunes ,
L. Benedito  and
C. Gomes
T. Carvalho
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (ISMT); Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, Portugal, Psychology, Coimbra, Portugal
A.L. Côrte-Real Lopes Nunes
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Escola De Altos Estudos, Coimbra, Portugal
L. Benedito
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Psychology, Coimbra, Portugal
C. Gomes*
Affiliation:
Clínica de Saúde Psiquiátrica de Coimbra (CSPC) – Casa da Oliveira, Psychology, Coimbra, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating, neurodegenerative, and immune-mediated disease that affects the central nervous system. Usually co-occurs with difficulties in emotional regulation and psychopathology. Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric manifestations in patients with MS. Nonetheless, empirical evidences on the joint predictive effect of MS clinical conditions and emotion regulation processes on the development of anxiety in MS patients are scarce.

Objectives

This preliminary study aimed to explore whether fatigue, physical disability (MS clinical conditions) and a low compassionate attitude (maladaptive emotion regulation process based on self-judgment, over-identification, and isolation) predict anxiety symptoms in MS patients.

Methods

A convenience sample of 107 patients with MS diagnosis and without other neurological disorders was used in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Anxiety Subscale of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21, the Analogic Fatigue Scale, the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, and the Self-judgment, Isolation and Over-identification Subscales of the Self-Compassion Scale.

Results

All potential predictors showed significant correlations with anxiety symptoms and predicted this symptomatology through simple linear regressions. Therefore, they were selected as covariates of the multiple linear regression model, which explained 32% of the variance of anxiety symptoms. This model revealed that fatigue, physical disability, and low compassionate attitude are significant predictors.

Conclusions

The results support the relevance of psychological interventions for MS patients to implement effective strategies to regulate anxiety associated with fatigue and physical disability. Helping patients to adopt a more compassionate attitude toward the self can reduce their anxiety.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

multiple sclerosisanxiety symptomspredictive model
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S188
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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