Effectiveness of Art Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Patients

INTRODUCTION

Multiple sclerosis simply known as “MS” is disease, an autoimmune one; it has its affect on the central nervous system of human mind. Affected by multiple sclerosis, the brain faces a number of difficulties in getting messages to other parts of the body. Though, we know fairly little on the issue of multiple sclerosis, research into its root causes and potential treatments is swiftly developing. The researcher claim MS causes the human body’s immune system to target attack myelin, an insulating coating around nerve cells. When myelin is affected, the communication among nerve cells located in the central nervous system is interrupted. When it occurs, few of the parts of the human body do not receive or accept instructions from the central nervous system, the source of controlling everything human body does. The disease can cause dynamic range of symptoms that emerge with a range of severity, from mild distress to absolute disability.

Statement of the Problem

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an incurable, chronic, and disabling disease in which the immune system is believed to attack the central nervous system. Would Art therapy be proven effective for the patients of Multiple Sclerosis? In order to analyze the benefits that can be drawn out of the therapy, the researcher must be well aware of the illness, its causes and types. As for the treatment, there are various ways that can help in the phase of the healing process of the multiple sclerosis patients. It is however significant to make relationships among the vulnerabilities of the illness and the soothing benefits of the art therapy that is to be examined in this paper. Moreover, this paper provides a comparative study which to examine the effectiveness of art therapy on the patients of multiple sclerosis in two different parts of the world. U.S. and Middle East being the main focus on the study as far as the geographical setting of this paper is concerned.

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The researcher’s goal is to identify the casualties and the causes of the illness known as multiple sclerosis and also acquire a better understanding of its types and the vulnerabilities that comes in the baggage. It is mainly important because to look for healing, the problem must be clear and concise. Among various methods that has been proven beneficial in the course of healing for the multiple sclerosis patients, this paper has chosen the gate of art therapy. Art therapy has been in the debate for a while when many controversial illnesses are emerged as an issue to talk about.

Art therapy has provided a gateway to many of the soothing process that can be beneficial and helpful in many illnesses. The number of ways art therapy has provided particularly to examine the variation it introduced in order to soothe the variety of vulnerable symptoms have been considered reliable and valuable.

Purpose

This study is designed to analyze the effectiveness of Art Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis patients. The researcher hypothesizes that Art Therapy will considerably improve the overall aspects required to fulfill a quality life. The paper also comprises a comparative study between United States of America and Middle East

Research Question

Does Art therapy help in any way to multiple sclerosis patients? How beneficial it is to the patients residing across U.S. and Middle East.

TYPES OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple sclerosis might appear in various forms. Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable illness. Some people have initial attacks and do not progress. Occasionally, in elderly, progression will stop altogether. According to Multiple Sclerosis Association of USA, it is not clear why this illness affects people in such a diversity of ways. The types of Multiple Sclerosis include:

Relapsing-remitting:

Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis short as “RRMS” is typically characterized by plainly definite attacks of aggravating neurologic functions. These attacks are medically referred to as “relapses”, break outs or exacerbations which are pursued by partial or total recovery periods such as remissions, during it the symptoms get better partially or entirely, and there is no evident progression of illness. RRMS is the common disease at the time of diagnosis. This form of MS comes and goes with time. It usually builds up in the age from 20s to 30s. Symptoms could be severe at one point of time and then disappear. About 85 % of MS patients develop onset of the disease in this pattern. Relapsing-remitting MS is defined as the provocative attacks on myelin as well as of the nerve fibers. During all those provocative attacks, activated immune cells cause few, localized areas of loss which target the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Due to the reason that the location of the damage is so changeable, no two patients have exactly the same kind of symptoms.

Symptoms are very changeable in RRMS. Devastating fatigue is a common unbearable symptom. One of the initial signs of MS might include double vision or blindness that is partial blindness. Other symptoms comprise of balance issues, spasticity, and numbness. This could make walking really difficult. Some people go through bladder or bowel dysfunction, dizziness, or pain. In few cases, emotional imbalances or cognitive dysfunction may occur. Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis tend to worsen as soon as patients become worked up. Lhermitte’s sign is an impression parallel to an electrical shock burning down from neck. Another out of the ordinary sensation, known as MS Hug, feels like a contraction around chest.

Secondary-progressive:

The title for secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) comes relevant of the fact that it emerges after (RRMS). Of the 85 % of the people who were initially diagnosed with RRMS, most would sooner or later transition to SPMS, meaning that after a course of time within which they experienced relapses and remissions, disease would begin to develop more gradually (not necessarily quickly), with or without any attacks or relapses for that matter.

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After the first attack, the disease might begin to develop in a more intentional way. In this type, symptoms do not collapse. Before new therapies were designed, about 50 percent of patients with MS entered a progressive stage. In SPMS, people might or might not continue to face relapses caused by inflammation; the disease steadily changes from the provocative process seen in RRMS to a much more steadily progressive stage characterized by nerve damage or loss. People with PPMS do not usually experience any attacks or relapses. With SPMS, relapses tend to be less different. They might happen less often or never occur at all. When relapses occur, recovery is not as final and complete. Disabilities stay put.

The fair reason people progress from relapse-remitting to the secondary progressive MS is not still concise and clear. It doesn’t seem related to a growing or increased immune reaction. One explanation is that the disease progression might be an after-effect of nerve damage that occurred early in disease growing phase. But more investigation is required to understand the uneven disease process.

Primary-progressive:

Primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) is distinguished by slow worsening of neurologic functioning, without any kind of distinctive relapses or occurrence of remission. A person’s pace of progression may differ over time with infrequent plateaus or momentary improvement — but the progression is unremitting and continuous. People who build up this form of disease generally do so afterward in life. They turn down slowly, without much of the hurdles and ups and downs. This form of illness occurs in only 15% of all patients with MS, but it is however most common type of MS in patients who develop the disease after the age of forty.

Due to this vital difference in the disease course, various criteria are used to make a precise diagnosis of PPMS. The criteria to diagnose a relapsing form of MS require confirmation of at least 2 separate areas of loss (distribution in space) in central nervous system (CNS) that occurred at different points in time period (distribution in time). In PPMS, though, there is little amount of inflammation. Rather, nerve damage dominates. Damaged nerves disrupt the transmission of nerve signals and messages. This gives a raise to neurological symptoms. Signs of scar tissue or lesions might eventually form all along the damaged nerves in the brain and also in the spinal cord.

Progressive relapsing:

Progressive-relapsing multiple sclerosis (PRMS) is the slightest common of the four disease types. Like those with PPMS, patients having PRMS experience steadily declining neurologic function, disease progression from the very start, in addition to infrequent relapses similar to those experienced by patients with relapsing-remitting MS.

Because PRMS is progressive from beginning, it may be first diagnosed as PPMS, and then subsequently transit to PRMS when a relapse or attacks occurs. Although this disease type is progressive from the outset, each patient’s symptoms and pace of progression tend to be different. In this type of multiple sclerosis, symptoms originally progress slowly but eventually get worst over the period of time. This type of MS affects about 5% of all the patient suffering from MS. No two patients are likely to have the same kind of MS symptoms in the similar manner. Few symptoms might come and go or come out once and not ever again. A relapse can last a long or short period of time from 24 hours to multiple weeks. During a relapse or attack new symptoms may appear or old symptoms for the moment worsen. In PRMS, relapses might or might not be followed by a little recovery. However, there are no remissions whatsoever.

CAUSES

Although the root cause of multiple sclerosis is still unknown, evidence suggests that the illness may result from an environmental agent that attacks the illness in a genetically vulnerable human being. These outlines of evidence have given a raise to both environmental and genetic theories for Multiple Sclerosis.

The Environmental Theory:

Investigators and researchers have explored the likelihood that exposure to viral or bacterial contaminations, environmental toxins, exposure to sunlight, variation in temperature and humidity levels, or diet may in some manner produce or aggravate Multiple Sclerosis. To this date, no particular environmental factor or agent has been declared as the root cause of MS. Examine involving inhabitants migration support the idea that an environment element may possibly bring about danger to enhance MS. Especially; susceptibility for you to grow MS seems to be keen by simply get older involving residence ornamented by simply a number of geographical locations. People that ended up blessed within high-risk location glimpse to acquire a lower threat when they transfer as well as create residence within low-risk parts ahead of get older involving 15. In dissimilarity, people blessed within less-risk location may possibly use a dangerous when they change as well as create residence in a higher-risk position just before the age of 15 years.