The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Integrated Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Sleep Quality, Anxiety, and Fatigue in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease, which results in numerous medical problems, as well as psychological symptoms such as anxiety, low sleep quality, and fatigue. These problems usually result in deteriora-tion of clinical symptoms and low efficacy of the patients. The current study investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-integrated cognitive-behavioral therapy (MICBT) on sleep quality, anxiety, and fatigue in patients with MS. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with MS were randomly assigned to MICBT or control groups. Data collec-tion tools were Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Measurements were performed in three stages including before the intervention, after the end of the intervention, and in a follow-up phase. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed with SPSS to compare the results between the two groups. Results: A significant reduction in anxiety (d = 0.62) and fatigue (d = 0.56) and a significant increase in sleep quality (d = 0.56) were observed in the experimental group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The results also were kept in follow-up phase. Conclusion: MICBT is effective on the anxiety, sleep quality, and fatigue in patients with MS. As a result, mental health professionals can take advantage of this treatment to address the psychological problems of these patients.