Mental Health in Multiple Sclerosis During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Delicate Balance between Fear of Contagion and Resilience

Abstract

The current study aimed at exploring the relationship between objective disability, illness perceptions, resilience, fear of COVID-19, and psychological distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, and stress) in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) during the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. A group of 122 pwMS recruited in an Italian university hospital took part in this cross-sectional monocentric study. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess the strength of the hypothesized associations. Results indicated that, differently from cognitive impairment, motor disability was positively associated with anxiety. However, accounting for subjective illness perception, such association was no longer significant. Moreover, accounting for both protective and risk factors in the models, even illness perception was no longer significant, highlighting the central role of resilience and fear of COVID-19 in explaining the negative emotional outcomes. Implications for clinical interventions and psychoeducational trainings are discussed.

Sexual Dysfunction in People with Multiple Sclerosis: The Role of Disease Severity, Illness Perception, and Depression

“…Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor and cognitive systems, increasing the risk of developing negative mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. To this end, previous research has found that approximately 25–50% of people with MS (pwMS) have some form of major depression [ 6 ] and that the higher the level of disability, the higher the risk of developing depressive symptoms is [ 7 , 8 ].…”