Mentalisation in Multiple Sclerosis: The Role of Mentalisation in Anxiety and Depression

Background: Multiple sclerosis(MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease and is characterised by impairment in cognitive and social functioning during the course of the disease. Mentalisation is of great importance in social functioning as it is the ability to understand oneself and others. Mentalisation disorders constitute a risk for psychiatric diseases. In our study, mentalisation skills and their relationship with anxiety and depression symptoms were investigated in MS patients. Method: 31 consecutive MS patients were included in the study. Sociodemographic form, Beck depression inventory, Beck anxiety inventory, and mentalisation scale were administered to the participants. Mentalisation was considered in three sub-dimensions: self-based mentalisation (MentS-S), others-based mentalisation (MentS-O) and motivation to mentalise (MentS-M). Result: Patients with Anxiety have significantly lower MentS-O scores. MentS-S scores of those with depression were found to be significantly lower and MentS-O scores were found to be higher. While positive moderate correlation was found between MentS-S dimension and depression is, negative moderate correlation was found between MentS-M and MentS-O dimensions Conclusion: Mental skills are impaired in patients with Ms. This impairment appears in different sub-dimensions in patients with anxiety and depression. Differences in mentalisation skills are particularly associated with depression.