Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Psychological Aspects of Quality of Life, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: The present study aimed at examining the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on psychological aspects of Quality of Life, depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest and control group design. A total of 30 members of the MS Society of Semnan City, Iran, was selected by purposive sampling in 2015 and were randomly divided into two groups, i.e. experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and the control group received no treatment. Before treatment and immediately after treatment, the patients filled in Lovibond psychological distress scale and multiple sclerosis Quality of Life questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of health distress, mental well-being, cognitive function, and role limitations, but no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of overall Quality of Life. Also there is not any significant difference between the experimental and control group in term of depression, anxiety and stress. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has a significant effect on psychological aspects of Quality of Life, including health distress, mental well-being, role limitations due to emotional problems, and cognitive performance (P<0.05). However, this effect was not statistically significant on one of the psychological aspects of Quality of Life (overall Quality of Life), depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with multiple sclerosis (P>0.05). Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can improve the psychological Quality of Life of patients with multiple sclerosis.