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Depression in multiple sclerosis: Review and theoretical proposal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2008

PETER A. ARNETT*
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
FIONA H. BARWICK
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
JOE E. BEENEY
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Peter Arnett, Penn State University, Psychology Department, 522 Bruce V. Moore Bldg., College of the Liberal Arts, University Park, PA 16802-3105. E-mail: paa6@psu.edu
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Abstract

Because of its high prevalence and implications for quality of life and possibly even disease progression, depression has been intensively studied in multiple sclerosis (MS) over the past 25 years. Despite the publication of numerous excellent empirical research papers on this topic during that time, the publication of theoretical work that attempts to explain depression in a comprehensive way is scarce. In this study, we present a theoretical model that attempts to integrate existing work on depression in MS and provide testable hypotheses for future work. The model suggests that risk for depression begins with the onset of MS. MS results in disease-related changes such as increased lesion burden/brain atrophy and immunological anomalies that are associated with depression in MS, but explain only a relatively limited proportion of the variance. Common sequelae of MS including fatigue, physical disability, cognitive dysfunction, and pain, have all been shown to have an inconsistent or relatively weak relationship to depression in the literature. In the model, we propose that four variables—social support, coping, conceptions of the self and illness, and stress—may moderate the relationship between the above common MS sequelae with depression and help to explain inconsistencies in the literature. (JINS, 2008, 14, 691–724.)

Information

Type
Critical Review
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2008
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Fig. 1. Model of depression in multiple sclerosis (MS): Disease factors predict common MS sequelae.

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Fig. 2. Model of depression in multiple sclerosis (MS): Common MS sequelae predict depression. Note. The different types of lines in this and subsequent figures indicate the strength or weakness of the evidence supporting the influence of a particular factor on MS-related depression: An unbroken line indicates that evidence consistently supports the influence of that factor, a dashed line indicates that evidence for the influence of a particular factor appears to be less consistent on the surface but is more consistent when subject to careful analysis, and a dotted line indicates that the evidence supporting the influence of the particular factor is decidedly mixed. The thickness of the lines reflects the number of studies that have examined the influence of a particular variable on MS-related depression: Thicker lines indicate a greater number of studies, whereas thinner lines indicate fewer studies.

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Table 1. Studies examining the relationship between common disease sequelae and depression in MS

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Table 2. Studies examining relationship between proposed moderators and depression in MS

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Fig. 3. Model of depression in MS: Possible moderators predict depression.

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Fig. 4. Model of depression in MS: Possible moderators interact with common MS sequelae to predict depression. Note. The differently colored arrows convey the category of variable in this figure: Green represents MS disease factors and blue represents common MS sequelae. The red arrows represent possible moderators. Note that the risk for depression either decreases or increases with the occurrence of the moderating variables in the right-hand circle depending upon whether they are in the adaptive or the maladaptive direction, as indicated by the upward and downward arrows underneath the right-hand circle. Empirically supported interactions between moderating variables and common MS sequelae, or between proposed moderators, are represented by pink lines from each variable intersecting at a small pink circle with an arrow leading to depression. A few hypothesized, but as yet untested, interactions between moderating variables and common MS sequelae, or between proposed moderators, are represented by orange lines from each variable intersecting at a small orange circle with an arrow leading to depression. Other possible interactions based upon the model could be derived as well