Personality, mental distress, and risk perception in subjects with multiple chemical sensitivity and toxic encephalopathy.

• Personality, mental distress, and risk perception were assessed in (a) cases of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS; n = 17), (b) chemically intolerant toxic encephalopathy cases (TE), type 2A (n = 31) and 2B (n = 26), and (c) healthy referents (n = 200). MCS cases showed elevated mental distress scores on the Depression, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Global Severity Index, and Somatization scales in the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90). In the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) the MCS group showed an elevation only on the Psychasthenia scale. Both TE groups showed elevations across the KSP anxiety scales Muscular Tension, Psychasthenia, and Somatic Anxiety. TE type 2B subjects also showed elevations on the Irritability and Indirect Aggression scales. However, neither MCS nor TE groups showed deviating personality characteristics in the Meta Contrast Technique test. Similarly, none of the groups deviated from referents in a risk perception inventory.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Neurotoxicity Syndromes : psychology

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity : psychology

Middle Age

Mental Disorders : psychology

Male

Human

Female

Analysis of Variance

Adult

Personality : physiology

Personality Assessment

Psychiatric Status Rating Scales

Risk Factors

Severity of Illness Index

Sex Factors

Perception : physiology

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)