Effectiveness of Compassion-focused Therapy on Demoralization Syndrome and Pain Catastrophizing of Men with Multiple Sclerosis

Aims and background: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on demoralization syndrome & pain catastrophizing in men with multiple sclerosis. Materials and Methods: This study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest & follow up control group design. Thirty people with inclusion criteria were selected by purposive sampling method from all men with MS in Tabriz in 1399 who were members of the MS Association of this city, and were randomly divided into two experimental (n=15) and control groups (n=15). The experimental group received compassion-focused therapy in 8 sessions of 1.5 hours (2 months, one session per week), but the control group did not receive any treatment. Members in both groups responded to the 24-items Demoralization Syndrome and 13-items Pain Catastrophizing before, after and 4 months after the intervention. Analysis of findings through repeated measures analysis of variance test. Results: In the pretest, mean and standard deviation of the experimental group were 46.67±6.29 for demoralization syndrome and 39.73±4.74 for pain catastrophizing; And the control group were 47.13±5.27 for demoralization syndrome and 38.67±5.02 for pain catastrophizing (P>0.05). Compassion-focused therapy (demoralization syndrome 38.00±5.58 & pain catastrophizing 31.60±4.92) compared to the control group (demoralization syndrome 47.60±5.26 & pain catastrophizing 38.53±4.85)  reduced demoralization syndrome and pain catastrophizing of men with multiple sclerosis after the test (p<0.001). In the follow-up phase, the effect of compassion-focused therapy on demoralization syndrome 38.20±5.53 and pain catastrophizing 31.87±4.96  was lasting (p<0.001). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that compassion-focused therapy has reduced demoralization syndrome and pain catastrophizing in men with multiple sclerosis.