The effect of psychotherapy based on the explanatory model of depression in patients with multiple sclerosis on the quality of life and marital satisfaction of patients

 Although many researches show the negative effects of MS on the lives of patients and many treatments have been carried out in this regard, but the effectiveness of the treatments is still challenging. Therefore, the aim of present study was to study the effect of psychotherapy based on the explanatory model of depression in MS patients on quality of life and marital satisfaction of affected patients.

 The research method was experimental pre-test post-test type with follow-up phase. Statistical population of this study was all the people aged 20 to 50 years old with MS in Hamedan city in 2021. 30 people of that population were randomly selected in 2 groups of 10 people (experimental group and control group). The participants in all three stages were evaluated with the Global Health Quality of Life questionnaire and short form of Mehrabian Marital Satisfaction scale. The experimental group recived 8 sessions of individual psychotherapy based on the explanatory model of depression in patients with MS and the control group did not receive any intervention.

Data was analyzed by the statistical method of multivariate covariance analysis in SPSS-21 software. Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of the experimental and control groups (p<0.05).

Results of the this study indicated that psychotherapy based on the explanatory model of depression in patients with MS is effective in improving the quality of life and increasing marital satisfaction,  This method can be used to increase the mental health of these patients as a fast-acting treatment.