Effectiveness of Cognitive-Existential Therapy on Fatigue, Demoralization Syndrome and Perceived Stress in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Introduction: Background and Aim: Multiple sclerosis is one of the most common chronic diseases in the central nervous system, which affects the physical and psychological complications of the disease and its associated stress all aspects of the patient's life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ontological cognitive therapy on fatigue, morbidity and perceived stress symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis. Materials and Methods: The method of the present study was experimental design with pretest and post-test design with control group. The statistical population of this study included all people with illness who referred to Iran Society of Iran in the spring of 2016-17, with 24 patients MS patients were selected as sample based on objective sampling based on semi-structured interviews and randomly divided into two groups of intervention (12 subjects) and control (n = 12). The intervention group received 10 weekly sessions on the effectiveness of Cognitive-Existential Therapy. The instruments used were Kissane's demoralization Syndrome (2004), Fatigue Scale and Perception Stress Questionnaire (Coon et al., 1983). Multi-variable covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The experimental and control groups were based on demographic characteristics of age (years) (P <0/65), duration of diagnosis (years) (P <0/87), marital status (P <0/56), level Education (P<0/57), job status (P<0/45) were homogenized. Cognitive-Existential Therapy was used to decrease the scores of physical Fatigue (P<0.01, F=12.45), cognitive fatigue (P<0.01, F=14.35)  social Fatigue (P<0.01, F= 8.13),  and demoralization Syndrome (P<0.01 , F= 41.28)  perceived stress (P <0.01 , F=25.75) were effective. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that using Cognitive-Existential Therapy has been able to improve the status of fatigue, demoralization syndrome e and perceived stress in patients with multiple sclerosis and promote their general health. Therefore, it can be used as an effective interventional technique for improving fatigue, demoralization syndrome and stress symptoms in patients with MS.