ABSTRACT
Autoimmune disorders have been reported to affect 23 million people in the United with some estimates of up to 50 million people. Autoimmune disorders occur when the body has an abnormal immune response and essentially attacks its own organs, tissues, and cells. Symptoms of autoimmune disorders can have significant variability even within one type of illness, and can be nonspecific. Many of the symptoms can co-occur in a large number of other diseases, disorders, and syndromes, including psychiatric conditions, which makes them especially difficult to diagnose, and subsequently treat. This chapter discusses multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating disease affecting the central nervous system. According to the National MS Society, MS is diagnosed in over two million individuals globally. The disease is two to three times more likely to affect women than men. Average age of diagnosis has been reported to be approximately age 30. MS is typically diagnosed based on objective findings of lesions on magnetic resonance imaging.
