A 2-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF PATIENTS WITH SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

Thirty inpatients with multiple somatoform symptoms admitted to a psyc hosomatic hospital were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interv iew for DSM-III-R and questionnaires. Two years later, a reexamination by interview and a follow-up questionnaire took place. The authors fo und high comorbidity rates not only for affective disorders (lifetime 86%), but also for anxiety disorders (lifetime 43%). Comorbidity is of high prognostic relevance: whereas patients with only somatoform diso rders at first assessment may remit until second assessment, in those patients with comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, some somat oform symptoms still remain. The rate of misdiagnosed organic disorder s is estimated at lower than 10%.