Self-Esteem and Disease Adaptation among Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive chronic disease that generally appears in early adulthood. Symptoms include weakness, loss of muscle control, slurred speech, and incontinence. Adapting to these frustrating and embarrassing symptoms can have adverse effects on self-esteem. The humiliation of stumbling in a crowd or suddenly becoming incontinent hardly requires comment. These symptoms, however, do not affect all MS patients similarly because the disease is marked by frequent remissions and exacerbations. Therefore, in the present study, we expected self-esteem levels to vary with the level of physical restriction.