Dysfunctional buildings or dysfunctional people: an examination of the sick building syndrome and allied disorders.

As Bauer et al. (1992) have indicated, psychological variables may play a prominent role in workplace-related disorders, like sick building syndrome. To place their work in a broader context, a spectrum of workplace disorders is described that encompasses sick building syndrome, building-related illness, neurotoxic disorders, and mass psychogenic illness. For each disorder, the authors identify both the building- (or exposure-) related variables and the psychological variables believed to trigger or maintain the unique pattern of somatic and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Strategies to aid in diagnostically differentiating the four syndromes are also discussed.