Psychosocial support encompasses five key components that are ongoing throughout the disease course:

• Disease-related education (“psychoeducation”) – a supportive, educational process designed to enhance understanding of the disease and promote adaptive coping strategies
• Diagnosis and treatment of emotional and/or cognitive problems
• Family interventions designed to support family members’ efforts to cope with illness-related challenges
• Support for people’s efforts to remain productively employed as long as they want to and are able
• Connection to available resources for your patients

The publication series, Talking with Your MS Patients about Difficult Topics, models effective conversations with patients about topics including:

• diagnosis
• primary progressive MS
• sexual dysfunction
• depression and other mood changes
• cognitive dysfunction
• bladder and bowel problems
• reproductive issues
• rehabilitation
• wheeled mobility
• life planning

and more.

A variety of tools and resources are available to support your clinical work.