New research from the University of British Columbia is painting a clearer picture of the early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS), showing that people are nearly twice as likely to experience mental illness in the years leading up to the onset of the diseases. The study, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression may be part of a prodromal phase of MS — a set of preliminary symptoms and clues that arise before classic MS symptoms.