The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Increasing the Quality of Life and Reducing Psychological Symptoms in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Background: Quality of life is a multidimensional construct including physical health, psychological state, level of independence, and social relationships, as well as psychological symptoms, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and obsessive-compulsive, depression, and anxiety disorders, aggression, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on increasing the quality of life and reducing psychological symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: In this clinical trial study, in a pre and post design, 30 patients were randomly selected and located in equal experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group received treatment of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for eight 90-minutes sessions. Quality of life questionnaire (QLQ) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were used to collect the data. Analysis of covariance test was used for data analysis via SPSS software. Findings: With the implementation of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with multiple sclerosis, the level of quality of life scores for physical health, and mental health changed as 40.40 and 44.01, respectively. In addition, the changes of aggression, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, physical complaints and depression components were 3.20, 3.60, 3.00, 3.20 and 2.40, respectively. Conclusion: The results showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is an effective and evidence-based approach for psychological intervention in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Keywords

• Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
• Quality of life, Psychological symptoms
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)