Anxiety is perhaps the most taxing and under-treated psychological effect of living with MS. It does not appear to result from the physical disease process of MS, but rather stems from the realities of living with MS. Individuals living with MS know that it’s the unpredictability, and therefore the difficulty, in planning and preparing for the effects of MS on your life, that drives one’s anxiety. Anxiety disorders are estimated to affect 43 percent of those with MS, and are also more common among women.

The scientific literature suggests that anxiety levels are higher at the onset of the disease and when it co-exists with moderate to severe depression. Tragically, the combination of untreated, sustained depression along with anxiety can produce higher rates of suicide among people with MS. Limited social support and higher rates of alcohol consumption also elevate anxiety disorders in MS.

Anxiety disorders are frequently overlooked and often undetected. As a result, they can worsen one’s quality of life and greatly reduce treatment adherence. One study suggests that only one-third of those with MS who have an anxiety disorder have been given a documented psychiatric diagnosis (Korostil & Feinstein, 2007). Frequently, if anxiety and depression co-exist, only a diagnosis of a depressive disorder is given.

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