Effectiveness of behavioral activation on adversity quotient, experimental avoidance, and emotion regulation in patients with multiple sclerosis

BACKGROUND: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience a lack of integration in psychological, social, emotional, and physical dimensions, and in addition to physical problems, they experience a variety of psychological problems in the cognitive-emotional aspect as a result of the disease-caused cognitive-emotional disorder. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of behavioral activation combined with guided imagery rescripting on adversity quotient (AQ), experimental avoidance, and cognitive emotion regulation in patients with MS. METHODS: This was a research with a quasi-experimental design (pre-test and post-test with a control group). The statistical population included all patients with MS visiting the Caspian Physiotherapy Center of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2020. The sample consisted of 30 patients with MS (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) who were selected by convenience sampling. The research instruments included the Adversity Quotient Test, Young-Rygh Avoidance Inventory (YRAI), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Behavioral activation combined with guided imagery rescripting increased AQ and positive cognitive emotion regulation, and decreased experiential avoidance and negative cognitive emotion regulation in patients with MS in the experimental group compared to the control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Behavioral activation combined with guided imagery rescripting could be an effective method for increasing AQ and positive cognitive emotion regulation and decreasing experiential avoidance and negative cognitive emotion regulation in patients with MS.