Effectiveness of Self-compassion Therapy for Distress Tolerance and Rumination in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients face many challenges that significantly affect their daily lives. Multiple sclerosis symptoms are unpredictable and can disrupt work, relationships, and social interactions, leading to emotional consequences like anxiety and depression, as well as social stigma. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of self-compassion therapy for distress tolerance and rumination in women with MS. Methods: This quasi-experimental study adopted a pretest-posttest design with a control group and recruited women aged 18 - 55 diagnosed with MS by a neurologist who visited the MS Society of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2023. Forty participants diagnosed with MS were randomly assigned to two groups (control group: n = 20; experimental group: n = 20). The experimental group received self-compassion therapy delivered in eight 90-minute sessions. The control group did not receive the intervention and instead served as a waitlist control. The research instruments included the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) and Ruminative Response Scale (RRS). The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance in SPSS V.27. Results: Posttest results revealed significant between-group differences. The experimental group exhibited lower mean scores (mean ± SD = 46.13 ± 3.40 for distress tolerance, 35.41 ± 3.41 for rumination) compared to the control group (mean ± SD = 27.71 ± 4.27 for distress tolerance, 53.90 ± 5.83 for rumination). The results demonstrated that self-compassion therapy significantly diminished rumination and enhanced distress tolerance in the experimental group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that self-compassion therapy has the potential to be an effective intervention for reducing rumination and enhancing distress tolerance in women with MS. However, further research with more extensive and diverse samples is necessary before recommending widespread adoption within healthcare settings.