Projective Drawings for Assessing Stress among Subjects with Medical Symptoms Compatible with Sick Building Syndrome, and Validation of a Modified Version of the Stress Load Index from the Drawing Personality Profile: A Pilot Study

It was hypothesized that subjects with medical symptoms would show more signs of stress in projective drawings. A Stress Load Index, including five signs of stress in drawings, was evaluated. A questionnaire with an instruction to draw “a person in the rain” was sent to a cohort of 195 subjects, and the drawings were analysed blindly for eight stress items. Men had a higher index than women ( p < .05) and drew clouds more often ( p < .05). Drawing of clouds was associated with headache (adjOR = 4.28; 95% CI 1.75; 11.68). Drawing of puddles was associated with ocular symptoms (adjOR = 3.22; 95% CI 1.38, 7.50), facial dermal symptoms (adjOR = 2.94; 95% CI 1.28, 6.81), and tiredness (adjOR = 2.44; 95% CI 1.05, 5.67). Drawing of long rain strokes was associated with nasal symptoms (adjOR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.05, 2.06) and headache (adjOR = 3.20; 95% CI 1.28, 8.05). Age and stress load were predictors of sick building syndrome symptoms ( p < .05). In conclusion, a nonverbal projective drawing test detected sex differences which represent directions opposite to those with verbal methods. These need empirical assessment.