Somatic symptom distress and holistic thinking style are the major dimensions behind IEI-EMF

Abstract

Background: Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) is a self-reported condition involving non-specific symptoms in the proximity of electromagnetic fields and devices. Although its psychological as opposed to biological background is supported by empirical findings, our current knowledge on the predisposing psychological factors is scarce. Methods: Participants (N=674; 75.4% females; age: 35.5±13.04 yrs) completed an online survey assessing socio-demographic variables, modern health worries, risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, etc.), and indicators of IEI-EMF (self-diagnosis, frequency of symptoms and their impact on daily life), subjective symptom related variables (negative affect, somatosensory amplification, symptom report), holistic thinking style (spirituality, holistic health beliefs, relatedness to nature), and psychological and physical health (well-being, positive affect, subjective sleep quality, perceived stress, self-rated health status, etc.). Findings: 13.8 % of the respondents reported IEI-EMF. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation revealed two dimensions (“Perceived stress†and “IEI-EMFâ€) explaining 29 % of the total variance. Holistic thinking and symptom related variables, modern health worries, and female gender were positively connected to the IEI-EMF factor, while age, education, risk behaviors, and components of the the Perceived stress factor were independent of it. Discussion: Holistic thinking style and somatic symptom distress proved to be the most important psychological factors behind IEI-EMF. In contrary to earlier assumptions, IEI-EMF does not seem to be a stress-related condition.