Mindfulness and multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, debilitating autoimmune condition with unknown etiology. It can have significant impact on quality of life and overall sense of wellbeing. It can be associated with poor sleep, fatigue, mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and affect interpersonal relationships. Impact of mindfulness based interventions in mental health conditions, chronic illness as well as multiple sclerosis in adults has been widely studied. Several studies have concluded that mindfulness based intervention can be beneficial in improving quality of life, mental health and physical symptoms such as fatigue in adult patients with multiple sclerosis. Current literature suggest that practice of mindfulness based techniques improve cognitive performance, attention, social skills, academic skills, emotional regulation, self-esteem, anxiety, stress and fatigue in adolescent population. There is, however, limited evidence about utilizing mindfulness based intervention in adolescents with chronic illness. The chapter describes practice of mindfulness and current research in treating symptoms of multiple sclerosis.