Abdulaziz Aflakseir - Department of Psychology, School of Education & Psychology, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran.
Fatemeh Manafi - Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

Objective The current study aimed at exploring posttraumatic growth and its relationship with cognitive emotion regulation strategies among a group of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Shiraz, Iran. Methods The convenience sampling method was employed to recruit ۹۲ patients diagnosed with MS from the MS society in Shiraz in ۲۰۱۴. Two research questionnaires including Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) were completed by the participants. The Spearman correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis were used to analyze the data with SPSS version ۱۶. Results The findings showed that a majority of patients with MS experienced some degree of posttraumatic growth. The participants scored high on satisfaction with life followed by spiritual change, personal strength, new possibilities, and relating to others. With regard to cognitive emotion regulation variables, only reappraisal (P<۰.۰۰۲) and positive refocusing (P<۰.۰۰۱) significantly predicted posttraumatic growth. Conclusion The current study demonstrated that patients who used positive refocusing and reappraisal were more likely to experience posttraumatic growth.

Posttraumatic, Growth, Multiple Sclerosis, Emotion, Cognitive, Iran