Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy on Mental Toughness and Cognitive Flexibility in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: a Pilot Study

 People living with multiple sclerosis experience mood and mental health disorders more than the general population. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy on mental toughness and cognitive flexibility in patients with multiple sclerosis.

 The research method was semi-interventional with a pre-test-post-test design and a one-month follow-up with a control group. The study population included 30 patients with multiple sclerosis who referred to a neurologist office in Isfahan in 2020. Thirty of them were selected using available sampling method during a call and randomly divided into two equal interventional and control groups. The participants in the interventional group receive a positive psychotherapy for eight 90-minute sessions per week. Clough Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ) and Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire (CFI), before and after completing the training and one month after the intervention was implemented. Data were analysed using mixed analysis of variance test and SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA).

 The mean (SD) age of participants in the interventional group was 33 (4.7) and in the control group was 33.7 (5.3). The mean (SD) of the mental toughness in the interventional group in the pre-test was 108.3(32) which increased to 124 (29) in the post-test (P< 0.001). But in the follow-up one month later, it showed a slight decrease to 123 (29). Also, the mean (SD) of the cognitive flexibility in the pre-test was 66.5 (21.7) increased to 84.6 (27.4) in the post-test (P<0.001). But in the follow-up, it decreased to 80.1(25). The changes in the control group were not significant in both tests.

 The study showed that positive psychotherapy increased mental toughness and cognitive flexibility in patients with multiple sclerosis.