title: Abnormalities in cognitive-emotional information processing in idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Staudingerweg 9, D-55099 Mainz, Germany. witthoef@uni-mainz.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Witthöft
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rist
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D018777:Multiple Chemical Sensitivity / Q000150:complications*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D055815:Young Adult