Psychiatric Disorders in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, inflammatory, neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, characterised by demyelinisation and axonal damage. The probability of MS patients experiencing psychiatric disorders is much greater than that of the population not diagnosed with MS. The symptoms of MS, the side-effects of pharmacological treatments, family history, and psychosocial factors can cause the possibility of psychiatric disorders developing, such as depression, anxiety, adjustment disorder, psychosis, bipolar mood disorder, chronic stress, and suicidal thoughts. Literature search for original articles and review in the databases, including PubMed, Google scholar and Scopus from 1996 to 2021. Studies suitable for the purpose of this review were selected and reported. The frequency of psychiatric disorders in MS and the radiological findings in these cases were evaluated. Depression has been reported to be the psychiatric disorder with the highest prevalence as a comorbidity in individuals diagnosed with MS. Depression affects an average of 30% of MS patients, which is a rate 2-5-fold higher than in the general population. The presence of additional psychiatric diagnoses has a high prevalence in MS disease, but the majority are overlooked in the diagnosis and treatment process.