Can multiple sclerosis change your personality

Multiple sclerosis (MS) does influence a lot of change in your life, both internally and externally. Some MSers, however, may worry about their personality changing as a result of this but this is very far from the truth.

Firstly, let’s look at what can cause changes in your emotional state as a result of MS.

Emotionalism (pseudobulbar affect)

Sudden changes in emotion are of course very difficult to manage and can make it seem like your personality has changed.

Emotionalism is one of the less frequent symptoms of MS but nevertheless impactful. Lesions affecting the frontal lobe, the part of the brain responsible for regulating emotions, are thought to cause mood issues.

People who experience this go through sudden bursts of intense emotion which can lead to uncontrollable anger or feeling tearful. Something that can get mistaken for happiness are fits of uncontrollable laughter, often at inappropriate times. These responses of emotion aren’t representative of what is being felt by the person which can be quite frustrating if people don’t realise.

Cognition may influence this

The way your cognition is impacted can make you question yourself about if you’re experiencing a personality change.

A loss of brain cells (and therefore brain mass) because of MS will of course impact your cognitive performance. As the cerebrum shrinks, it can lead to you struggling to understand what people are talking about and even miss out on social ques (like not laughing when someone tells a joke).

All of these elements of impaired cognition add up and can influence your emotional state negatively. The feeling of frustration can be overwhelming for anyone and may even lead to you taking it out on others.

This is by no means a change in your personality. These experiences are very common among MSers and aren’t something you should put too much pressure on yourself over. Whilst they’re horrible to go through, there are plenty of methods to help manage them.

Perspective change

Whilst we’ve established that MS won’t uproot your personality, it should be noted that the diagnosis process and outcome may change your perspective on life in general. You might realise things you used to do weren’t good for you, and maybe even that it’s not worth sweating the small things in life for example. Whatever you begin to realise or accept more as a result of having MS is sure to morph the way you think and feel in general.

We do have plenty of other things you can read up about on MS, including more on emotionalism and cognition. The buttons below will lead you to these resources if you’d like to learn more.