It's time to talk about disclosure and concealment in MS

Deciding when and if to disclose a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is complicated and highly stressful for individuals who are already facing many challenges. To date, few research studies have explored specific ways in which this challenge affects people with MS. From a cognitive neuroscience standpoint, the brain is a limited capacity system whereby any allocation of resources has a consequence for overall brain efficiency. To better understand the consequences of allocating resources to concealment behaviors and disclosure decisions, we developed a measurement tool, the DISCO-MS. Here, we discuss insights gained from follow-up focus group discussions with MS patients.