Efficacy of Group Therapy on Reduction of Psychological Signs of Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that causes major psychological challenging in the patients all over the world. In this case، psychological interventions can be useful. This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of group therapy based on confrontation with feelings in group interaction on the depression، fatigue and anxiety in multiple sclerosis patients. This was an experimental study with pretests، posttest and follow-up. Twenty four female patients were selected through accessible sampling method from MS Society of Kerman and randomly assigned to two groups (experimental and control). They were all administered Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)، Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)، and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) before and after the intervention and again after the follow-up period. Intervention was sixteen sessions group therapy based on confrontation with feelings in group interaction. Data was analyzed using ANCOVA/ Repeated Measure Design. The findings of this study indicated that the two groups were significantly different regarding depression and anxiety (p<0/05)، both immediately after the treatment and the follow-up evaluation. However no significant difference was found between the two groups regarding fatigue. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of group therapy on the improvement of depression and anxiety in female MS patients.