Presenter: Courtney Pickworth, ND, John Phipps, PhD, & Angela Senders, ND

Original Date: September 22, 2019

Mindfulness training is increasingly used as a therapeutic intervention to manage stress and enhance emotional well-being. Mindfulness is defined as the capacity to notice one’s thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without engaging in physical or emotional reactivity to these experiences. The practice of distinguishing between experience (what one notices) and the response to experience (e.g. judgment, negative affect) helps participants identify and mitigate habitual reactions that contribute to emotional distress. Mindfulness-based interventions have shown benefit for a variety of symptoms associated with MS (anxiety, depression, pain, fatigue, physical function), but their use with MS populations has been limited.

Psychological stress has a negative impact on the multiple sclerosis (MS) disease process. Stressful life events significantly increase the risk of MS exacerbation, and stress management has been shown to reduce the risk of new lesion development on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition to preceding physical symptoms, stress often precipitates mood disorders, of which people with MS are more prone. Compared to the general US population, people with MS have a higher lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders (36% vs 29%) and depression (36%–54% vs 16%). Adverse consequences of mood disorders among people with MS include reduced functioning and quality of life, decreased treatment adherence, and increased risk of suicide. Thus, psychological stress and emotional well-being are important targets for MS research and clinical care.

This presentation presents the results of randomized clinical trial of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for people with MS conducted at the NUNM Helfgott Research Institute in collaboration with the OHSU MS Center

1.75 General CEUs approved by OBNM