Do you know that about half of the people living with MS experience depression? MS isn't just about physical symptoms. It also carries emotional challenges and depression is one of them. But what do we really know about MS and depression? It's widely underreported and misunderstood. So join me for this conversation today as we debunk five common myths about MS and depression. And my fellow MS sisters, if you want a more personalized approach to creating your MS diet and lifestyle,

that no diagnosis can take away from you. So if you are ready to reclaim your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis, welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Alene Brennan. In today's episode of MS in the News, I want to share with you an article that I came across from Johns Hopkins Medicine. It's titled 'Five Myths About Multiple Sclerosis and Depression.' It caught my attention because we so often hear about the fact that if you have MS, you're more likely to experience depression. There's a nice perk for you, right? Getting diagnosed with a chronic illness and also knowing that depression could be in your future, that's depressing in and of itself. So I perked up when I saw that this article highlighted myths about MS and depression.

I'm thinking. Is there something that I've been told or read and therefore starting to believe that is true, but might not actually be true? I wanted to know. Turns out there are several misconceptions surrounding MS and depression. And in this Johns Hopkins article, rehabilitation psychologist, Dr. Abby Hughes clears the air. Well, I found the article so helpful and interesting that I decided to share it with you today as our MS in the news feature. Myth number one, anyone with a disease such as MS should expect to be depressed. Oh my goodness. Let's hope that this is a myth. Let's hope that this is not true. My friends, resilience is something that I talk a lot about, both here on this podcast, as well as in my videos, on my blog and my events. Because living with a chronic illness is all about being resilient. And I really do my best to point it out when I see it in members of our community. But what's interesting to me is that very rarely does someone see it in themselves. When I point it out, most people say like, oh, thanks. I never considered myself resilient. If you're living with a chronic illness and listening to this podcast, you can consider

that the fact that you chose to learn more about your diagnosis and seek ways to improve your health. That is the very definition of being resilient. And just in case you're wondering, you can't get kicked out of this hall of fame either, because by its very definition, resilience is the act of getting back up when you fall down. So if you fall down again or fall off the bandwagon, so to speak, that doesn't mean that you're no longer resilient. It means that's giving you another opportunity to flex your resiliency. The article goes on to say that while many individuals with MS have similar symptoms or experiences, only 50% develop depression that interferes with their daily function over the course of their life. So I hear this and I'm like, wait a minute, 50%. So 50, 50. So basically I have just as good of a chance of not experiencing depression that affects my daily life. I'll take those odds. I'd like them to be stronger in my favor, but I'll at least take 50,

on a day-to-day basis. And even if you're not perfect, because guess what? None of us are, you're still putting one foot in front of the other each and every day to do your best each day. That's going to look different each day, of course, but you're doing your best. And that is what resiliency is all about. Dr. Hughes then points out that resilience isn't necessarily affected by the severity of MS

I love this way of thinking. I love it. We can look at the laundry list of symptoms or associations with MS and just automatically think like, great, add another thing to my future. But it doesn't necessarily mean that has to be true for you. That is why our theme here is reclaiming your body, mind, and life from MS. This is what resilience is all about. So if that sounds good, you are in the right place. Keep showing up for these episodes. I hope that you love them. All right. Myth number two, people with MS and depression often look and act depressed. The truth here, the truth is that depression in MS may look different than how you might expect depression to quote unquote, look on someone.

But I'll be honest, that's not what I would put as like a definition of depression. So it's just really opening our eyes to the fact that we may think that depression looks a certain way, but when it comes to depression and MS, it may not look that classic definition. It can look more along the lines of, as I said, irritability, anger, not feeling like oneself and or uncertainty about your future. And what's also interesting is that many of the symptoms of depression overlap with many of the symptoms of MS, especially fatigue and difficulty concentrating. My neurologist actually does a questionnaire that she has every patient fill out at each appointment. And several of the questions are on depression. So your neurologist may already have her finger on the pulse with this, because this is something that they want to track and they want to help you with. And if it's something that you feel like you struggle with or just want to be ahead of the game on, you might find it helpful to do something like a symptom tracker or a diary to track your mood.

Myth number three, depression and grief are the same. Oh, how I love this myth buster so very much. As I shared with you many times before, I was diagnosed with MS just six weeks after my mom passed from cancer. I was grieving the loss of my mom when I was diagnosed. And then I had the layer of grieving my health and life that I kind of just assumed were part of my future.

Early days of diagnosis, I really wanted to understand and was curious to learn what is their definition or distinction between depression and grief. So they put it this way. Grief is a reaction to loss, whether it's loss of a loved one or loss of an ability. It's understandable and normal when we are living with MS to experience grief as new.

It's understandable that you are going to have emotions around this and adjusting to these and other lifestyle changes comes with an understandable grief. Dr. Hughes then shares that an important distinction between grief and depression is that grief is temporary. When treating depression, the focus is often on helping people reduce feelings of hopelessness,

you have had on your mind or would be open to. Check it out. It could be a traditional therapist or somebody at your church or place of worship. Okay, let's move on now to myth number four. Visible MS symptoms are the most debilitating. This one doesn't come as a huge surprise to me, and I'm guessing it doesn't for you either. We know that one of the most disabling symptoms of MS is fatigue. You can't see it, but you sure can feel it. Well, this article goes on to point out that what may not come up in conversations and can be hard to notice are mood and cognitive issues associated with MS. Emotional difficulties, including depression and anxiety, can often interfere with daily functioning more so than physical symptoms.

Apathy or anxiety may have more power than muscle spasms or dizziness to hold someone back from enjoying life. It's pretty wild to think about, but totally relatable. And again, as we're living this day to day, I think it's something that we can all say, yes, it's 100% understandable. It's not just the physical symptoms. It can be just as much the emotional difficulties that can interfere with our day to day life. So yes, this idea that visible MS symptoms are the most debilitating is 100% a myth. Okay, last myth up here, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction are not related to depression. This is another one where I feel like, okay, pretty obvious. MS fatigue is humbling and can feel quite defeating as can brain fog. So of course it'll trigger emotions and affect both our mood and our mindset.

The article actually states that fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of MS, but it can also be a sign of depression. And so can certain cognitive issues such as poor concentration and indecisiveness. MS can mask some of these depression symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose this condition. In addition to being a symptom of depression, cognitive issues may also lead to worsening depression. So MS may affect cognitive functions such as memory, attention, information processing, and reasoning. Problems with any of these functions can negatively affect a person's self-image and self-worth 100%. Dr. Hughes suggests cognitive evaluations as a way to keep track of cognitive changes. It's a test that can be performed by a psychologist;

rehabilitation would be beneficial for improving fatigue, mood, and/ or cognitive symptoms. I had no idea that cognitive behavioral therapy or rehabilitation can improve fatigue and mood. I think it's obvious that it would, and I would hope that it would improve cognitive symptoms, but improve mood and fatigue-that's really interesting. Just hearing this, my eyes are open to therapies and treatments that I didn't even know existed before.

Hearing from you. I love hearing your feedback on each and every episode. So send me a message over on Instagram or on my blog, Alenebrennan . com. I would love to hear from you. Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to Alenebrennan . com. See you on the next episode of my MS podcast.