Logotherapy

  
Developed by Viktor Frankl, the theory is founded on the belief that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose

Logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one's life.  

Frankl's theories were heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps.

 

Origins of Logotherapy

Victor Frankl was born in Vienna in 1905. He trained as a psychiatrist and neurologist, working from the framework of existential therapy. 

During World War II, Frankl spent about three years in various Nazi concentration camps, an experience that greatly influenced his work and the development of logotherapy.  

Frankl observed that those who were able to survive suffering in the concentration camps, typically found some meaning in it, such as a task that they needed to fulfill, (i.e., to testify against the Nazis).

For Frankl personally, his desire to rewrite a manuscript, that had been confiscated upon arrival at Auschwitz, was a motivating factor. 

After the camps were liberated, Frankl resumed his work as a neurologist and psychiatrist. 

In 1946, he published 'Man’s Search for Meaning', outlining his experiences in the concentration camps as well as the basic tenets and techniques of logotherapy.

Components of Franklian Philosophy

There are three main components that are at the heart of the Franklian philosophy:

1. Each person has a healthy core.
 
2. The primary focus is to enlighten a person to their own internal resources and provide them with the tools to use their inner core.
 
3. Life offers you purpose and meaning; it does not owe you a sense of fulfillment or happiness.

Finding Meaning with Logotherapy

Logotherapy is based on the premise that humans are driven to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life. According to Frankl, life’s meaning can be discovered in three different ways:

1. By creating a work or accomplishing some task
2. By experiencing something fully or loving somebody
3. By the attitude that one adopts toward unavoidable suffering

Frankl believed that suffering is a part of life, and that man’s ultimate freedom is his ability to choose how to respond to any set of given circumstances, even the most painful ones. 

Additionally, people can find meaning in their lives by identifying the unique roles that only they can fulfill. 

For example, when a man consulted with Frankl due to severe depression following the death of his wife, Frankl asked him to consider what would have happened if he had died first and his wife had been forced to mourn his death. The man was able to recognize that his own suffering spared his wife from having that experience, which served as a curative factor and helped relieve his depression.

Logotherapy Techniques

The three main techniques of logotherapy are:

1. Dereflection: Dereflection is used when a person is overly self-absorbed on an issue or attainment of a goal. By redirecting the attention, or dereflecting the attention away from the self, the person can become whole by thinking about others rather than themselves.

2. Paradoxical intention: Paradoxical intention involves asking for the thing we fear the most. For people who experience anxiety or phobias, fear can paralyze them. But by using humor and ridicule, they can wish for the thing they fear the most, thus removing the fear from their intention and relieving the anxious symptoms associated with it.

3. Socratic dialogue: Socratic dialogue is a technique in which the logotherapist uses the own person's words as a method of self-discovery. By listening intently to what the person says, the therapist can point out specific patterns of words, or word solutions to the client, and let the client see new meaning in them. This process allows a person to realize that the answer lies within and is just waiting to be discovered.

Conditions Treated with Logotherapy

Logotherapy is founded on a belief that many illnesses or mental health issues are actually due to existential angst. Through his work, Frankl found that people struggled with feelings of meaninglessness, a situation which he referred to as the existential vacuum. 

Logotherapy can be used to treat a wide range of issues that are existential in nature.  
More specifically, 

 logotherapy has been found effective in the treatment of:

1. - substance abuse, 
 
2. - posttraumatic stress, 
 
3. - depression, and anxiety. 
 
 
 
Criticism of Logotherapy

One of the primary criticisms of logotherapy comes from Rollo May, who is considered to be the founder of the existential movement in the United States. 

May argued that logotherapy is authoritarian, in that it suggests that there are clear solutions to all problems and that Frankl provides people who utilize this therapy with meaning if they are unable to find their own. 

Frankl was aware of May’s criticism and refuted the idea that logotherapy takes responsibility away from the individual; He maintained that logotherapy actually educates the person in therapy about his or her own responsibility.






References:

1. Biography. (n.d). Victor Frankl Institut. Retrieved from http://www.viktorfrankl.org/e/chronology.html
2. Bulka, R.P. (1978). Is logotherapy authoritarian? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 18(4), 45-54.
3. Delavari, H., Nasirian, M., & Baezegar bafrooei, K. (2014). Logo therapy effect on anxiety and depression in mothers of children with cancer. Iranian Journal of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, 4(2), 42-48.
4. Frankl, V.E. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
5. Smith, A.J. (2013). Logotherapy to treat substance abuse as a result of military-related PTSD. Journal of Military and Government Counseling, 1(1), 61-74.

Last updated: 07-02-2015

Logotherapy Articles

• Logotherapy: How a Few Questions Can Aid the Grief Process

  

 

 Source: http://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/logotherapy

 

 

 

 

Being Active with MS

  

Published on Oct 23, 2016

 

Gentle chair based exercise class for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis. Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lspJ... before participating in the exercise class. We recommend playing your favourite music at the same time.

• 
  

  Category  People + Blogs
  

• 
  

  License - Standard YouTube License
  

Link: https://youtu.be/5BgxknExmDU

Think about what gives your life meaning

Why a Sense of Purpose in Life Is Important For Health

Conclusion:

A sense of purpose in life also gives you this considerable advantage:

"People with a sense of purpose in life have a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease."

The conclusions come from over 136,000 people who took part in 10 different studies.

Participants in the studies were mostly from the US and Japan.


The US studies asked people:

• how useful they felt to others,
• about their sense of purpose, and
• the meaning they got out of life.

The Japanese studies asked people about ‘ikigai’ or whether their life was worth living.

The participants, whose average age was 67, were tracked for around 7 years.

During that time almost 20,000 died. 
But, amongst those with a strong sense of purpose or high ‘ikigai’, the risk of death was one-fifth lower.

Despite the link between sense of purpose and health being so intuitive, scientists are not sure of the mechanism.

Sense of purpose is likely to improve health by strengthening the body against stress.

It is also likely to be linked to healthier behaviours.

Dr. Alan Rozanski, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Of note, having a strong sense of life purpose has long been postulated to be an important dimension of life, providing people with a sense of vitality, motivation and resilience.

Nevertheless, the medical implications of living with a high or low sense of life purpose have only recently caught the attention of investigators.

The current findings are important because they may open up new potential interventions for helping people to promote their health and sense of well-being.”

This research on links between sense of purpose in life and longevity is getting stronger all the time:

• “A 2009 study of 1,238 elderly people found that those with a sense of purpose lived longer.
• A 2010 study of 900 older adults found that those with a greater sense of purpose were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
• Survey data often links a sense of purpose in life with increased happiness.

"No matter what your age, then, it’s worth thinking about what gives your life meaning.”

Read More:

Find out what kinds of things people say give their lives meaning.

Here’s an exercise for increasing meaningfulness

And a study finding that feeling you belong increases the sense of meaning.

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Cohen et al., 2015).


Link: http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/12/here-is-why-a-sense-of-purpose-in-life-is-important-for-health

At what point does Secondary Progressive MS usually get diagnosed?

  

Published on Oct 24, 2016

Andy asks Dr. Ford at what point Secondary Progressive MS gets diagnosed.

What's your question for an MS expert? http://shift.ms/got-a-question

MS Reporter: Andy
MS Expert: Dr. Helen Ford, neurologist.

Join the Shift.ms community: www.shift.ms

• 
  

  Category
  

  • People & Blogs
• 
  

  License
  

  • Standard YouTube License
• 
  

  Created using
  

  • YouTube Video Editor
• 
  

  Source videos
  

  • View attributions

Link: https://youtu.be/nWztjIxq5LM

Overthing can be destctive

Overthinking is the biggest cause of our unhappiness. Keep yourself occupied. Keep your mind off things that don't help you. Think positive.

If you can dream it... You can do it

Really?

Your Brain On M.S.

 

Cheerful 5-year-old boy sets up cameras to capture first visit from Tooth Fairy

WATCH: 

Cheerful 5-year-old boy — with help from dad — sets up cameras to capture his first visit from the Tooth Fairy http://cbsn.ws/2eWLjti 

Link: https://youtu.be/A8-U4aigvsw

Memories

The more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.
- Vladimir Nabokov

Memory Lane Has a Three-Way Fork

"In his magnum opus, In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust wrote that “remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.”  

That elegant line speaks to a simple truth: There are things you remember, and there are things you remember well. Even if you can recall a past event, your memories will vary considerably in how much detail they contain, and how correct those details are. In an elegant experiment, a team of neuroscientists led by Jon Simons at the University of Cambridge have shown that these aspects of our memories—our success at recalling them, their precision, and their vividness—depend on three different parts of the brain."

(Image: Matthew Whitney) 

What are the side effects of citalopram?

 Anti-depressants are frequently prescribed for people with m.s.

 

What are the side effects of citalopram?

 

Common citalopram side effects may include:

• drowsiness, dizziness, weakness;
• anxiety, feeling shaky, sleep problems (insomnia);
• vision changes;
• nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, constipation;
• dry mouth, yawning;
• cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat, cough;
• increased sweating;
• changes in weight; or.

William Shakespeare. Honorary Psychologist.

Mary Oliver Quotes To Inspire A Bold Life

                    

Mary Oliver Quotes To Inspire A Bold Life

by Tess

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver

“Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.” ~ Mary Oliver
“Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.” ~ Mary Oliver

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled—to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.” ~ Mary Oliver

“I read the way a person might swim, to save his or her life. I wrote that way too.” ~ Mary Oliver

“And now I understand something so frightening & wonderful-how the mind clings to the road it knows, rushing through crossroads, sticking like lint to the familiar.” ~ Mary Oliver

“I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.” ~ Mary Oliver

“But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it’s done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive. ” ~ Mary Oliver

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” ~ Mary Oliver

“it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?” ~ Mary Oliver

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief.” ~ Mary Oliver

“And to tell the truth I don’t want to let go of the wrists of idleness, I don’t want to sell my life for money, I don’t even want to come in out of the rain.” ~ Mary Oliver

“So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing, and put your lips to the world. And live your life.” ~ Mary Oliver

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.” ~ Mary Oliver

“I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us…” ~ Mary Oliver

“maybe death isn’t darkness, after all, but so much light wrapping itself around us–” ~ Mary Oliver

“And that is just the point… how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. “Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?” ~ Mary Oliver

“You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.” ~ Mary Oliver

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” ~ Mary Oliver

“As long as you’re dancing, you can break the rules. Sometimes breaking the rules is just extending the rules. Sometimes there are no rules.” ~ Mary Oliver

 Source: http://theboldlife.com/2014/05/27-mary-oliver-quotes-to-inspire-a-bold-life/

Mary Oliver is a Pulitzer Prize winner and America’s best-selling poet. Her poems take your breath away and dare you to live a bold life.

 

No Pharma Conspiracy

May 10, 2013 

What's Holding Back Cures? Our Collective Ignorance 

(And No, Not A Pharma Conspiracy)

David Shaywitz,  

Contributor entrepreneurial innovation in medicine.

It seems a lot of people out there really think there are cures “They” don’t want you to know about.

In particular, there seems to be a surprisingly pervasive belief that drug companies aren’t working on cures for disease because it’s far more profitable to chronically maintain patients on medication.  This also explains (so the reasoning goes) why drug companies offer so many incremental therapeutics, and so few revolutionary treatments.

If only this explanation were true.

Drug companies, in fact, are desperate to identify radically improved treatments for dreadful disease.  Even if you don’t accept (as I’ve recently argued) that most industry researchers I know aspire to create such profoundly effective medicines, imagine the economic value of a drug that cured Parkinson’s Disease or pancreatic cancer – consider what such a therapy would be worth.

Exhibit A is the explosion of pharmaceutical interest in hepatitis C.  How do you explain the billions of dollars in investment– including an eye-popping $10.8B acquisition — if companies weren’t looking to cure patients?  The entire premise of this field has been coming up with approaches to cure more patients faster.

Of course, progress in HCV has been exceptional; by and large, medicine has seen mostly incremental gains, and has witnessed few transformative therapies.   Why?

The unfortunate truth is that drug companies really want to cure disease, but rarely know how.  Medical science simply isn’t up to the challenge.  Most diseases aren’t well enough understood to enable the rational development of truly transformative treatments.

When high-profile pharma studies fail – such as the slew of recent Phase 3 Alzheimer’s Disease trials – it’s fashionable to characterize them as yet another industry failure.  There’s some truth to this: the proximal cause may well be a poor decision to continue the development of a questionable drug.  But the root cause is likely insufficient understanding of disease pathophysiology.

We should also be careful about dismissing the value of incremental advances– a reflex I know I still have, although I’ve recognized the value of seemingly small tweaks from the time I was a resident.  Even today, when I critique (as derivative) formulation plays like liquid Ritalin, I’m glad to be reminded of the kids who stand to benefit from just such a medication.

What’s Next?

As the healthcare system looks more critically at value – demanding more evidence of effectiveness from providers and products alike – drug companies will be faced with two options.

The best choice, of course, would be to figure out how to come up with truly revolutionary treatments.  Perhaps unexpected insights will emerge from big data and the integration of phenotypic and genotypic information, in the framework of system biology; maybe a new therapeutic modality will arrive on the scene.  It’s possible intensified collaboration between academic and industry researchers will eventually yield something useful, or that open-data approaches (as championed by organizations like Sage Bionetworks [disclosure: I served as a founding advisor]) will achieve critical mass, and deliver impactful insights.  But unless something substantial changes, progress is likely to remain slow and stochastic, and truly game-changing novel therapeutics will continue to be the exceptions rather than the rule.

Given the ongoing challenges of creating transformative medications, there’s likely to be intensified focus on capturing, in a more granular fashion, the benefits of incrementally improved drugs; such assessments will not be a “nice to have” but a “must have,” table stakes for consideration by payors, and (to the extent these measures are used to demonstrate efficacy) regulators as well.  I also suspect pharmas will increasingly look to offer “solutions” (e.g. associated app or access to an online community) not just pills, to deliver value, though it’s unclear whether such approaches will either prove effective or represent an attractive value proportion for the relevant stakeholders.

In a sense, things would be much simpler if pharma really was as malevolent as some seem to fear; if only there was a secret refrigerator somewhere with cures to our deadliest diseases.  That would be a far more solvable problem than the one we actually must confront: science is extremely hard.

Even so, this doesn’t let pharma off the hook.  As savvy industry watchers such as Bernard Munos, David Grainger and others have pointed out (see here as well), pharmas could run far more efficiently, and make better, smarter, and faster decisions.

But at the end of the day, the fundamental challenge in the creation of new medicines remains the complexity of the underlying science.  Improved operational efficiencies may help reduce the cost and time of failure, but new understanding – ideally coupled with improved empirical approaches permitting progress in the absence of such understanding — will be required for enduring success.




Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2013/05/10/whats-holding-back-cures-our-collective-ignorance-and-no-not-a-pharma-conspiracy/#75d8b1f4222b

Courage doesn't always roar

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: courage, perseverance, tenacity

 

 

“Speak quietly to yourself and promise there will be better days.  Whisper gently to yourself and provide assurance that you really are extending your best effort.  Console your bruised and tender spirit with reminders of many other successes.  Offer comfort in practical and tangible ways - as if you were encouraging your dearest friend.  Recognize that on certain days the greatest grace is that the day is over and you get to close your eyes.  Tomorrow comes more brightly...”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: inspiration

“Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen Hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: intention

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: courage, inspirational, perseverance

 

 

“As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: compassion, giving, kindness, light

  

“‎Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. PLay with abondon. Laugh. Choose with no regrets. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

 

  

“living eulogy.
she danced.
she sang. she took.
she gave.
she loved.
she created.
she dissented. she enlivened.
she saw. she grew. she sweated.
she changed.
she learned. she laughed.
she shed her skin.
she bled on the pages of her days,
she walked through walls,
she lived with intention.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: inspirational

 

 

“There is no small act of kindness.
Every compassionate act makes large the world.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: compassion, empathy, kindness

 

 

“in the cold you wrap me. in my uncertainty you listen. in all my joys you celebrate. at every turn you meet me with competence and grace. what a fine dance we have together.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: love

 

 

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet
voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: inspirational

 

 

“Begin each day as if it were on purpose.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

 

“It is (often) the quiet gesture which carries the most significance - the one which suddenly directs the symphony.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: inspiration

 

“Lean forward into your life...catch the best bits and the finest wind. Just tip your feathers in flight a wee bit and see how dramatically that small lean can change your life.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher, Lean Forward Into Your Life: Begin Each Day as If It Were on Purpose

tags: inspirational

 

 

“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be... because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: inspirational-quotes

“what if
we just
acted like
everything
was easy?”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

“At the start of our together you were the prelude to a vast orchestration. At the end of it all you will have been the most profound and enduring music of my life.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

tags: love

“Lean forward into your life. Begin each day as if it were on purpose.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

 

 

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,"I will try again tomorrow."
― Mary Anne Radmacher, Courage does not always Roar

 

“In the quiet of this day, may you know the greatness of your spirit and may your hopes fly on the wings of possibility”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Anne Radmacher

 

Books by Mary Anne Radmacher

Lean Forward Into Your Life

Live Boldly

Open Preview

Live with Intention

Open Preview 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link:  www.the-thought-spot.com,

 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/149829.Mary_Anne_Radmacher

 

 

Don't get around much anymore

*(Photo by: Susan Schmitz)


Source: https://plus.google.com/collection/UYH5Z

 

Dreaming

                                           (Artwork by: Karezoid Michal Karcz)


Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.
~ Earl Nightingale



Source: https://plus.google.com/collection/UYH5Z

Courage

                                                          (Artwork by: PSHoudini)

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.
~ Mary Anne Radmacher
 
www.the-thought-spot.com

Treatment Protocols

MS Unites ‏@MSUnites Oct 18

Dr Boster Discusses #MultipeSclerosis Treatment Protocols w/ #MS. *Must See* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51B1VpGchDc … #WeHaveMS

Different MS treatment styles / philosophies

 

 Dr.B discusses differing treatment styles / philosophies in how MS DMT are used in clinical practice. What is YOUR style? What is your Docs style?

 Aaron Boster MD

A collection of our lectures and video clips about Multiple Sclerosis and severe spasticity management. Videos are intended for educational purposes and do NOT intended to provide medical advice.
Dr. Boster Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQopiiFbAo0zS_9BmRF3Bg

 Link: https://youtu.be/51B1VpGchDc

Communal Lunch

Balance can be an issue

DNA locations implicated in MS

Global effort reveals 200 DNA locations implicated in MS

Randy Shore
 

  October 18, 2016

Nikolaos Patsopoulos is a professor at Harvard Medical School and principal investigator in a global project to find the genetic basis for multiple sclerosis. handout / PNG

 

The largest-ever genetic study of multiple sclerosis has revealed dozens of new genetic markers associated with the disease, according to a presentation to the American Society of Human Genetics.
The findings, which are to be made available to researchers all over the world, will jumpstart research on the specific genes implicated in the neurodegenerative disease, according to Nikolaos Patsopoulos, a professor at Harvard Medical School and principal investigator.
Researchers now have a common map of 200 locations where they can look for clues to the causes of MS.
“We now know there are many, many more loci associated with the disease, more than double,” he told The Vancouver Sun. “We can now provide researchers with a very extensive list of prioritized genes that they can investigate.”
Patsopoulos presented the findings of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium on Tuesday at the American Society of Human Genetics 2016 annual meeting in Vancouver.
To tease out the genetic variations related to the disease, consortium researchers at 30 institutions in 18 countries compared the DNA of 47,351 people with MS and 68,284 people without the disease.
“New locations on the X chromosome are very exciting because MS is twice as common in women than it is in men,” said Patsopoulos.
The immune systems of people with MS attack the insulating myelin coating on nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, brain damage, blindness and other physical and mental symptoms.
The disease appears to be triggered by a mysterious interaction between lifestyle factors and genetic susceptibility, which has long frustrated scientists. Patsopoulos hopes the consortium’s findings will help the research community shine some light in that black box.
“Given how complex the environment is and how everyone’s life is so different, the one thing that doesn’t change is your DNA,” he said. “It’s the only stable part of a very complex system, so it provides the best opportunity to explain the disease.”
Most of the newly identified variants are specific to the function of immune cells and just a few that might be related to brain function, which helps point MS researchers in the right direction.
“Just as important, we have proven that many other locations in the genome have nothing to do with the disease, that there is nothing there to find,” said Patsopoulos.
He expects the list of genetic locations associated with MS will continue to grow — possibly as high as 300 — as more people’s genetic data becomes available to the project.
Many of the genes identified in the study are also involved in other autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and may affect the same immune system cells, but in different ways.
“This confirms the complex interplay of different elements of the immune system in MS susceptibility and highlights the role of several different immune cells that contribute to the initiation of this inflammatory disease,” explained Phil De Jager, senior author of the study.
rshore@postmedia.com





 Source: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/global-effort-reveals-200-dna-locations-implicated-in-ms