Personality analysis of patients complaining of sialorrhoea.
BACKGROUND
Sialorrhoea, the symptom of apparent excessive secretion of saliva is a relatively uncommon complaint. Some authors consider that in the absence of clinical findings, then these patients have a psychiatric disorder masquerading as a physical illness. However, there is little evidence in the literature to support this conclusion and a detailed psychological assessment of this population has not previously been reported.


METHODS
In total, 18 patients and 18 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. All had a history of a complaint of excess salivation in the absence of any oral mucosal or systemic abnormality. All patients completed an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.


RESULTS
There were no differences in the extroversion of psychoticism scores between the study and control group. However, the result showed significant increases in the neuroticism and Lie Scale score in the patient group.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall results of this study indicate that the complaint of sialorrhoea in otherwise healthy individuals does not have an organic basis and suggest that sialorrhoea is associated with high levels of neuroticism and a tendency to dissimulate.
Lamey
P-J
PJ
Oral Science Research Centre, School of Dentistry, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. p.lamey@qub.ac.uk
Clifford
T J
TJ
El-Karim
I A
IA
Cooper
C
C
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012798:Sialorrhea / Q000523:psychology*