Depression and Suicidality in Multiple Sclerosis: Red Flags, Management Strategies, and Ethical Considerations

Multiple sclerosis (MS) causes physical, emotional, and cognitive changes that impact function and quality of life (QoL). Risk factors for suicidality in MS patients include a high incidence of depression, increased isolation, and reduced function/independence. To describe the epidemiology of depression and suicidality in this population, highlight warning signs for suicidal behavior, provide recommendations and resources for clinicians, and discuss ethical decisions related to patient safety vs. right to privacy. Fifty percent of MS patients will experience a major depression related to brain MRI factors and disease-related psychosocial challenges. Nevertheless, depression is under-recognized/treated. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) indicates a suicide risk in the MS population that is twice that in the general population. Given the prevalence of depression and the increased risk of suicide in the MS population, any clinician providing care for these patients must be prepared to recognize and respond to potential warning signs.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports

• Publication date

  2019-08-28

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1007/s11910-019-0992-1PMID 31463644PMCID 6713681
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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