A CONCEPT CLOSE TO PRACTICE FOR INTEGRATI NG PSYCHOSOMATIC-MEDICINE IN GYNECOLOGY

This paper is meant to Survey the results of an interdisciplinary conc ept of psychosomatic patient treatment carried out for two years at th e Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the University of Cologn e. This integral programme offers a psychosomatic consultation hour ta king place once a week at the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics . Each first consultation is attended both by a psychosomatic speciali st and a gynaecologist. The hypothesis underlying this new programme, which supposes that the integration of the psychosomatic treatment int o the everyday routine of the clinic would make it easier for the pati ents to find access to psychological help, has proved right in view of the experience made so far. In comparison to the former counselling c oncept, the newly established gynaecologic-psychosomatical programme h as increased the attendance by 300%. Thanks to the integrated consulta tion hour the way of seeing gynaecological problems in a psychosomatic context has increased considerably within the clinic itself so that t hese problems can now often be solve directly between gynaecologist an d patient without making use of the offered consultation hour. Experie nces made so far prove that the psychosomatic consultation hours are a valuable contribution to the diagnostic and therapeutic spectrum of t he Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.