اختلال در پردازش اطلاعات شناختی-عاطفی در عدم تحمل محیط زیست ایدیوپاتیک و اختلالات شبه جسمی

Idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) represents a functional somatic syndrome marked by diverse bodily complaints attributed to various substances in the environment. Evidence for abnormalities in affective information processing similar to somatoform disorders (SFD) has recently been found in people with IEI. In order to further investigate these cognitive-emotional abnormalities, we compared people with IEI (n = 49), SFD only (n = 43), and non-somatoform controls (n = 54) with respect to their performance in the extrinsic affective Simon task (EAST). This task allowed us to dissociate indicators of automatic affective associations and emotional intrusion effects of both bodily complaints and IEI-trigger words. Negative association effects toward IEI-trigger words were strongest for IEI participants. Emotional intrusion effects of symptom words were larger both in IEI and SFD than in controls. The results of enhanced negative automatic evaluations of IEI-trigger words and greater attention allocation to symptom words support cognitive models of IEI.

Idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI), formerly called multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), is marked by an unspecific pattern of various medically unexplained complaints (e.g., headache, fatigue, muscle pain, arthralgia, sleep disturbance) attributed to diverse chemical environmental substances like dental amalgam, lead, metals, organic solvents, wood preservatives, pesticides, and strong odors in general (Bailer et al., 2005 and Bornschein et al., 2002). The etiology of IEI is still unknown and the pathogenesis remains poorly understood (Labarge & McCaffrey, 2000). Between 15% and 30% of respondents in population based studies report minor problems with environmental chemicals, between 1% and 6% meet more restrictive criteria of a disabling chemical intolerance in the sense of IEI (e.g., Bell and Schwartz, 1993, Meggs et al., 1996 and Reid et al., 2002).