Multiple Sclerosis, December 2001,
vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 411-416(6)
The relationship between disability
and depression was studied in 188 patients with clinically definite multiple
sclerosis (MS). Patients were administered the Zung Self-Rating Depression
Scale, Ways of Coping, Uncertainty of Illness Scale, and Hope Scale during
their regular clinic appointments.
Their current level of disability
was rated by the attending physician using the Expanded Disability Status
Scale.
Even when the depression measure
was corrected for items overlapping with other symptoms or consequences
of MS, depression was correlated with disability.
Depression was also correlated with
an array of psychological variables, including uncertainty concerning ones
illness, hope, and the use of various emotion-centered, though not problem-centered
coping strategies.
Multiple regression analyses revealed
that none of these psychological correlates mediated or moderated the relationship
between disability and depression.
Instead, disability, uncertainty,
hope, and emotion-centered coping were significant independent predictors
of depression, together accounting for approximately 40% of the variance
in patients' self-reported depression.
The relationship between disability
and depression in MS is usually interpreted as evidence that depression
is psychogenic and reactive to the demands and limitations of this disease.
The demonstration that this relationship
is not diminished when an array of potentially intervening psychological
variables are included in the analysis raises questions concerning the
validity of this interpretation.
© 2002 ingenta
Lynch S.G. [1]; Kroencke D.C. [2];
Denney D.R. [2] *
[1] Department of Neurology, University
of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, KA 66160, USA [2] Department
of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, KA 66045, USA [*]
Correspondence: DR Denney, Department of Psychology, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd.,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045, USA
Abstract: