Personality: A vulnerability factor in rhinitis?
Personality traits were assessed in 63 patients with persistent allergic or non-allergic rhinitis with the Karolinska Scales of Personality, developed with the aim of measuring psychobiological vulnerability factors, and were compared with a reference group comprising a random sample
of 400 sex- and age-stratified subjects. The patients' personality profile differed slightly - within one standard deviation - but significantly from the reference group on a number of factors together suggestive of a disinhibitory disposition, an inclination to express anxiety through somatic
rather than psychological channels, difficulties in maintaining emotional distance to others, and a limited awareness of aggressive affect, a pattern that suggests that they expose themselves to more stimulation than they can process in terms of thought and feelings, generating sustained physiological
arousal that may contribute to the development of their intolerance reactions.
Keywords: Karolinska Scales of Personality; Persistent allergic rhinitis; persistent non-allergic rhinitis; personality traits
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 2: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Lund University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Publication date: 01 May 2007
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