title: Problems with psychodiagnostics at "environmental patients".
abstract: The classification of environmental illnesses (e.i.) as a somatic disease is related to several problems with regard to the proof of chemical agents causing the syndrome. Also the understanding of those disorders as a mental illness interferes with some problems. One problem is the fact that in literature there are some dozen different terms for e.i. Nobody knows if the various authors talk about the same group of patients or if there are subgroups of patients etc. Further on there are quite marked differences at the symptom profiles which have to be explained. For those reasons a more sophisticated measurement and analysis of symptoms of environmental patients is necessary. If e.i. is supposed to be a psychopathological phenomenon the peculiarities of the criteria of the various diagnostic categories must be carefully considered. For instance, the classification according to somatization disorders does not fit well into clinical experience and also therapeutically seems to be not very fruitful.
authors.affiliation: District Hospital Haar/Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tretter
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000209:etiology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000209:etiology*; D013577:Syndrome