Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative and chronic disease involving a wide range of symptoms and consequences. These consequences are concerning physical, cognitive, social and psychological areas. If we consider particularly the psychological area, one of the main consequence caused by this disease is the deterioration of body image, and by extent the deterioration of self esteem that can lead to a wide range of mental diseases. This degradation of body image has been evoked in many studies before. But yet, none of these studies has linked body image with, in the mean time, biological, social and psychological factors, despite the fact that we know they have a main role in the construction and in the changes of body image through life, and also in any case of illness.
Our biopsychosocial approach in this research was made in order to try to understand the impact of these multiple factors in the deterioration of body image. The factors used in this study were : the level of disability, the illness representation, the type of coping strategies used by the participants, their neuroticism level, and of course their body image.
In order to underline the influence of theses elements in the deterioration of body image, we asked 15 participants (2 men and 13 women, suffering from multiple sclerosis since at least 5 years) to complete a few questionnaires. Using statistics and particularly a correlation coefficient, results showed that a high level of disability, a negative illness representation, the use of emotion-centered coping strategies and a high level of neuroticism were significatively linked with a negative body image. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis has showed us that the level of disability and the type of coping strategies used to face stressors were 2 significant predictors in the modification of body image in the disease.
These results are consistent with the fact that there are, in the mean time, biological, social and psychological factors involved in the deterioration of body image, and as a consequence the deterioration of self esteem, for patients affected by multiple sclerosis. As a conclusion, this study opens a wide field of holistic care for these patients, that must consider all these factors together. This kind of care might be made on the one hand to prevent a negative body image, and on the other hand to help the patients using their own resources to maintain a good feeling about themselves, as it is a decisive predictor about mental health and about the issues of the disease.
