Investigation of the relationship between self-esteem and depressive symptoms among young patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system, which aggravates the loss of self-esteem in patients and impairs their ability to cope with the disabilities. The present study investigated the relationship between self-esteem and anxiety among MS patients in Shiraz.

A descriptive-analytical study was carried out on all young MS patients when the disease was not in an acute stage, aged 20-40 years old in Fars Province in 2009-10. 150 MS patients (90 males and 60 females) were selected through in-access sampling method from a pool of patients who received services from Charity Foundation for Special Diseases (CFSD). The data were collected using self-esteem questionnaire and researcher-made questionnaire of anxiety. Data were analyzed with SPSS V.16 using Regression and Correlation with α=0.05.

Our findings indicated that there was an inverse and significant relationship between self-esteem and anxiety in MS patients of both sexes, with self-esteem predicting 0.66 anxiety of the participants.

According to our findings, holding sessions to provide insights into the importance of self-esteem would help MS patients and their families to deal with the disease problems more rationally, thus decreasing major part of their concerns.