The role of mindfulness in distress tolerance, emotional dysregulation and self-compassion in patients with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a progressive chronic disease, which is associated with negative emotions, confusion, and a decrease in a person's abilities.This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of mindfulness in tolerance of disturbance, emotional dysregulation and self-compassion in patients with multiple sclerosis.

This descriptive-correlational study investigated patients with MS in Gilan province in 2022. 240 MS patients were included in this study using convenience sampling. Research tools include Mindfulness Questionnaire (2006), self-compassion Questionnaire (2003), Simmons and Gaher Emotional Distress Tolerance Questionnaire (2005) and Toronto Emotion Dysregulation Questionnaire (1994). To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation test and step-by-step regression were used in SPSS software version 22.

Based on the findings of this study, mindfulness has a statistically significant direct relationship with disturbance tolerance (r=0.67) and self-compassion (r=0.79) and a significant inverse relationship with emotional dysregulation (r=-0.50) (P≥0.01). Also, mindfulness, disturbance tolerance and emotional dysregulation have the most predictive role in self-compassion in patients with MS (P≥0.05).

It seems that mindfulness can improve disturbance tolerance, self-compassion and reduce emotional dysregulation in multiple sclerosis patients. It is suggested to include mindfulness training programs in the process of caring for these patients.