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The Role of Pain Catastrophizing, Perceived Tension, and Experiential Avoidance in Loneliness of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Document Type : Scientific Research

Authors

1 M.A in General Psychology, Payame Noor University, Astaneh-e Ashrafiyyeh, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system that affects various aspects of a person's life. Evidence suggests that patients with more disabilities have lower levels of participation in social, home, work, and educational domains. Therefore, people with MS may be at risk of loneliness due to the changes in the social network that occur during the course of the chronic disease. Loneliness is the most painful experience of all human experiences that leads to severe psychological and physical problems. Considering the extensive physical, psychological and social consequences of this disease and the high cost of MS treatment and control, which can be aggravated by the psychological disturbance of patients, it will be important to examine psychological variables in people suffering from this disease. Based on this, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of pain catastrophizing, perceived tension and experiential avoidance in the loneliness of patients with multiple sclerosis. Method: The method of the present research was a descriptive-correlation study. The studied population included all patients with multiple sclerosis living in Rasht in 2022 who 120 people were selected as a sample group by available sampling method. In order to collect data, pain catastrophizing questionnaire (Sullivan et al., 1995), perceived stress scale (Cohen et al., 1983), acceptance and action questionnaire (Bond et al., 2011) and loneliness scale (DiTomaso et al., 2004) was used, all of which were valid and reliable. Participating in this research was optional and all participants were free to quit any time. The identities of the participants in this research were ethically confidential. The research data collected using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and step-by-step regression using SPSS-27 software. Results: The results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between loneliness and pain catastrophizing (r= 0.22, p< 0.05), perceived tension (r= 0.42, p<0.01) and experiential avoidance (r=0.51, p<0.01). In other words, the greater the pain catastrophizing, the perceived tension and the experienced avoidance it is more in patients with multiple sclerosis, loneliness is more. Also, the findings showed that among the predictor variables of this study, only experiential avoidance with a beta coefficient of 0.405 at the error level of 0.05 can predict social loneliness of patients with multiple sclerosis. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be acknowledged that pain catastrophizing, perceived tension and experiential avoidance through non-acceptance of feelings and thoughts have increased the loneliness of patients with multiple sclerosis. Therefore, considering the high levels of injuries and mental disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis, it seems necessary to identify the causal and underlying factors in maintaining and improving the mental health and well-being of this group of chronic patients. The findings of this study can strengthen theoretical models related to health and especially health psychology.

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References
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Health Psychology
Volume 13, Issue 49
August 2024
Pages 143-154
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