Effectiveness of Unified Transdiagnostic Protocol in psychosomatic symptoms in patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Psychologically-driven manifestations, including psychosomatic symptoms, are common in MS patients. Aims: The present study aimed to examine and develop the efficacy of the Unified Transdiagnostic Protocol (UTP) in psychologically driven and, more specifically, the psychosomatic symptoms of MS patients . Methods: The present randomized clinical trial was conducted at the Brain and Neurology Clinic of Mohebe Mehr Hospital, Tehran, Iran, in 2022. In total, 43 MS patients were entered into the study and randomly assigned to two groups: intervention (n=21) and control (n=22). We implemented UTP in 12 weekly online sessions (each session took 60 minutes). Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Larson Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSSQ) were used to assess psychosomatic symptoms. Results: Based on multivariate tests, there was a significant difference between different stages of the study, as well as the interaction effect between groups in terms of fatigue, desire to have sex, sexual attitude, sex life quality, sexual compatibility, and sleep quality (P<0.001). Moreover, there was a considerable difference in the changes in psychological symptom scores in UTP groups compared to control groups during the measurement stages (P<0.001). The stability of the treatment effects has been confirmed over time (P<0.001). Conclusion: As evidenced by the obtained results, UTP had stable effects on the treatment of psychosomatic symptoms. These include fatigue, desire to have sex, sexual attitude, sex life quality, sexual compatibility, and sleep quality, in MS patients.