Mentalizing self mind but not others: Self‐reported mentalization difficulties in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Abstract Background Mentalization can be defined as a mental process by which an individual directly or indirectly perceives and interprets one's own and others' behavior, emotions, beliefs, and needs based on designed mental states. Mentalization problems may be linked to remove associative white matter fiber disconnection. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the diseases with white matter lesions. By comparing MS patients with healthy controls, it was aimed to assess whether MS patients' mentalization skills are affected. Method This study involved 243 participants (170 healthy controls and 73 patients with MS). All the participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Mentalization Scale (MentS). Results While it was discovered that MentS scores for the dimension of others‐based mentalization (MentS‐O) were statistically lower in MS group, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the dimensions of motivation to mentalize (MentS‐M) and self‐based mentalization (MentS‐S) scores. Conclusion We may conclude that MS patients have trouble comprehending other people's thoughts. This effect can be one of the causes of MS patients' issues with social cognition.

Keywords

• mentalization
• multiple sclerosis
• social cognition