The Effectiveness of Emotion Focused Group Therapy (EFT) on Rumination and Emotional Expression in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a progressive neurological disease. It has both negative and positive impacts on the physical and mental health of patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused group therapy on emotional expressivity and rumination in patients with multiple sclerosis in Shiraz.

Methods and Materials:

The population of this study consisted of all patients with MS in Shiraz in 2021, diagnosed according to the 2017 McDonald criteria by a neurologist. After identifying MS patients, thirtywho met the research entry criteria were purposively selected and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group in equal numbers. The experimental group underwent emotion-focused therapy sessions for eight 90-minute sessionswhilethe control group remained on a waiting list. The data were obtained using the Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow (1991) rumination scale and the King and Emmons (1962) emotional expressivity questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measures analysis of variance) were used in data analysis.

Data analysis showed that after the intervention, there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in both variables of emotional expressivity and rumination (P<0.05). Significant differences in components of emotional expressivity (expression of positive emotion, expression of intimacy, and expression of negative emotion) and components of rumination (rumination responses and distraction responses) were observed between patients with multiple sclerosis in the experimental and control groups (P<0.05).

The use of emotion-focused therapy is an appropriate intervention for improving emotional expressivity and rumination in patients with multiple sclerosis and can be used to improve psychological status and better cope with the disease.