Depression is one of the most frequent psychical disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

The aim of this paper is to present the demographic characteristics of the depressive disorder in patients with MS with special emphasis on the character of the depressive manifestation.

We have prospectively evaluated 50 randomly chosen patients with various types of MS, who were clinically followed up for demyelinating diseases in the outpatient department at the Neurology Clinic Sarajevo. The depression was assessed with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale.

There was 66% of males and 34% of females, mean age 40.47 years, SD 9.236. In 56% of patients a depression that ranged from mild depressive mood (30%) to severe depression (10%) was established with no statistically significant difference between the two sexes. Statistically significant difference between sexes (p<0.05) was found in the presence of suicidal thoughts and ideas which were marked in 17% of males. All patients older than 51 (31.9%) were in normal mood (X2-test = 13.749, p<0.05). The depression was present in all divorced patients (10.7%), in most unmarried (35.8%), a number of widowers (21.4%), in patients with higher education (46.4%), in unemployed and in retired (75%).

Depression more frequently occurs in younger unemployed patients suffering from MS who have no spouse and have high education without significant difference between sexes. The clinical presentation of depression with its symptomatology often intertwines with some symptoms of multiple sclerosis which sometimes may pose diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma.