Biological outcome measurements for behavioral interventions in multiple sclerosis.

ABSTRACT: Behavioral interventions including exercise, stress management, patient education, psychotherapy and multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation in general are receiving increasing recognition in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical practice and research. Most scientific evaluations of these approaches have focused on psychosocial outcome measures such as quality of life, fatigue or depression. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that neuropsychiatric symptoms of MS are at least partially mediated by biological processes such as inflammation, neuroendocrine dysfunction or regional brain damage. Thus, successful treatment of these symptoms with behavioral approaches could potentially also affect the underlying biology. Rigidly designed scientific studies are needed to explore the potential of

SUBMITTER: Fischer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3131172 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature