Comparing emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance in multiple sclerosis patients and healthy individuals

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) impacts on the quality of life of patients even in early phases of illness. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance in people with multiple sclerosis and healthy cases. Materials and Methods: The statistical population of this comparative study included all MS patients aged 20 to 50 years who were referred to Kermanshah MS Society in the summer and fall of 2016. Three hundred seventy-six subjects, including 175 MS patients and 201 healthy cases, were selected using the convenient sampling method. Research instrument included Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DEES) and Distress Tolerance Scale. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The mean scores of difficulties in emotion regulation in multiple sclerosis group and control group were 104.02 ±17.90, and 94.12 ± 19.75 respectively. Also, the mean scores of distress tolerance scores in multiple sclerosis patients group was significantly lower than the control group (37.05 ± 9.47 vs 41.41 ± 10.14). Conclusion: Multiple sclerosis patients have more emotion dysregulation and less distress tolerance compared with the normal people.