Browsing by Author "Bárdos György"

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    Open Access
    Polluted places or polluted minds?: An experimental sham-exposure study on background psychosocial factors of symptom formation in 'Idiophatic Environmental Intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields'
    (2010) Szemerszky Renáta; Köteles Ferenc; Lihi Réka; Bárdos György
    Introduction: ‘Idiophatic Environmental Intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields’ (IEI-EMF) refers to the perception of subjective symptoms during or following EMF exposure. IEI-EMF has become disproved to be a mostly biologic entity by now, and evidences accumulate to support the role of nocebo effect in the phenomenon. The two aims of this study were to demonstrate the significant role of the nocebo effect in physical symptoms reported at 50 Hz frequency of EMF exposure, as well as to explore some psychological factors which may predispose to IEI-EMF. Methods: A total of 40 volunteer university students have completed a battery of psychological questionnaires (expectations; IEI-EMF; state anxiety – STAI-S; dispositional optimism – LOT-R; somatisation – PHQ-15; somatosensory amplification – SSAS) before, and checklists of physical symptoms during sham exposure to “weak” and “strong” EMFs, respectively. Participants were also asked about the extent to which they had perceived the presence of the presumed EMF. Results: Participants with higher IEI-EMF scores expected and experienced more symptoms. Suggestion of stronger EMF exposure resulted in larger symptom scores and enhanced EMF-perception as compared to the presumed weaker exposure. Experienced symptom scores were predicted primarily by somatisation scores, whereas self-rating of IEI-EMF was predicted by somatosensory amplification scores. Conclusion: The results confirm that there is considerable nocebo effect in symptom reports related to 50 Hz frequency EMFs. IEI-EMF seems to be formed through a vicious circle of psychosocial factors, such as enhanced perception of risk and expectations, self-monitoring, somatisation and somatosensory amplification, causalization and misattribution.
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    Open Access
    Somatosensory Amplification as a possible source of subjective symptoms behind Modern Health Worries
    (2011) Köteles Ferenc; Szemerszky Renáta; Freyler Anett; Bárdos György
    The theoretically hypothesized connection between modern health worries (MHWs) and somatosensory amplification (SSA), as well as the factor structure of the Hungarian version of the MHW scale were investigated in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. A total of 163 university students (mean age = 21.3± 2.70 yrs; 44.2% male) and 145 patients (mean age = 49.4±17.51 yrs; 31.7% male) visiting their general practitioners (GPs) completed questionnaires assessing MHWs, SSA, subjective somatic symptoms (PHQ-15), and trait anxiety (STAI-T). The previously described four-factor structure of the MHW scale was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the linear regression analysis, participants’ age and SSA scores were positively related to MHWs even after controlling for gender, anxiety, and subjective somatic symptom scores. The conclusions are that: MHWs are indicators of cognitive, behavioral and social level of sensitization for health-related concerns; SSA can provide the somatic background process for generation and/or misattribution of subjective somatic symptoms; better understanding of the cognitive-emotional background of MHWs could help to determine possible interventions.