Last Updated on March 28, 2015
Many people are aware of the fact that mold tends to affect the overall health of the individuals in different ways. Generally, the most common issues associated with mold exposure include nausea, blurred vision, allergy symptoms and sickness etc. What people do not know is that when they are exposed to mold over a period of time, their cognitive and emotional side are badly affected as well. Yes, mold chemicals can actually affect cognition, personality and emotions! Here is a list of all the different effects mold can have:
• Mania
• Mood swings
• Impulsivity
• Irritability
• Increase in alcohol and drug consumption
• Delay in child development
• Eccentric personality
• Decreased attention
• Panic attacks
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Dead creativity
• Poorly or at times obsessively organized
• Forgetfulness
• Increased narcissism
• Unable to process pain or trauma
• Poor insight
• Rigidity
• Spacey
• Immaturity
• Poor boundary awareness
• Poor empathy
• Lateness
• Increase in verbal fighting
• Poor stress coping ability
• Decrease in speech smoothness
• Increased risk taking
No doubt mold exposure is not the only reason of these issues but mold act as a direct cause of problems and makes the situation worse. When it comes to psychological effects of mold exposure, the cause was unknown for quite a long time and was often misdiagnosed. People who are exposed to mold do not understand the changes that occur in their bodies. This ignorance leads to psychological side effects apart from the physical ones.
On the whole, the psychological side effects can easily change people’s mood and the way they act in social situation. Furthermore, it lays a direct impact on the decision making skills and also decrease the overall happiness level. Understanding of psychological and physical side effects of mold exposure can really help in the treatment before it gets too late. Whenever you have a slight doubt, there is certainly no harm in performing a mold removal inspection done and avoid all sort of side effects.
Social psychology
Mold is taken to be an environmental health hazard which signifies that its affects people only when they are in a specific environment where the mold is infested. Once they are outside that environment, they will not feel the side effects at all. However, if the mold exposure is prolonged, there are certain side effects that may become permanent depending on the type of mold the individual is exposed.
Cognitive dissonance
When exposed to mold, people’s attitude and mood change. During this change phase, they may start to doubt some of their actions or may become despondent to a routine. Once this happens, they may change a belief that correlates to a particular action so that the cognitive dissonance is eliminated or minimized.
Attitude behavior consistency
When people’s attitude and moods change, they begin to feel that they need to stop performing an action because of the negative feeling towards it. If the mold exposure is prolonged, these consistencies can later have a direct impact on their behavior and attitudes outside the mold infested region.
Personality
The experts feel that when some unknown health issues begin to arise due to constant mold exposure, the personality of an individual can change drastically. People are seen to get distracted, confused and sometimes may even begin to question their true personality as well.
Emotional distress
Loss of passion, fluctuating health conditions and mood swings are some of the common changes that occur when exposed to mold for quite a long time. There are times when people begin to doubt themselves as well. They pose questions like, why am I acting this way? Is there something wrong with me? Have I entered a new phase of life? Will I ever be the same again? Such type of questions and doubts tends to damage the individual’s confidence if he is unable to find answers.
Anxiety
When there is a sudden or gradual change in the health condition, people get anxiety. They start to worry about their social acceptance, behavior and physical health. All these factors play a role in causing severe emotional distress. After some time, there is a chance that the anxiety may reside or decrease due to acceptance of the changes of certain behaviors.
Depression
Depression is evident as people experience anxiety for a long period of time. The overall life is badly affected as depression prevails in someone’s personality. The confusions and doubts lead to unhappiness. It is because of this reason why people start changing their beliefs and behaviors to match their actions and attitudes to feel better.
The effects of mold exposure pose different questions regarding the well-being of individuals. Sometimes, the questions remain unanswered because the causes are quite hard to identify. Since mold is well hidden, it takes a lot of time for the people to realize what actually is wrong with them and why this is happening. It is quite common to see that the causes are misdiagnosed as well. It is because of all these reasons why proper mold inspection is essential.