PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL METHODS IN QUALITY AS SESSMENT APPLIED TO FUNCTIONAL PSYCHOGENIC DISORDERS

The report deals with psychophysiological methods and their potential usefulness in matters of quality assessment of stationary care. For su ch a purpose, and unlike traditional treatment studies, the combined e ffect of the whole range of treatment approaches of a clinic has to be considered. The longitudinal design asks for identical, standardized laboratory assessments before treatment starts, at the end of the trea tment period, and preferably again as a catamnestic follow-up assessme nt. To index the actual illness state of a patient, psychophysiologica l reactivity is established in response to a disorder-specific challen ge with the potence to activate slight illness-related sensations. Alt erations in the illness state due to treatment should, as a consequenc e, show up as an altered psychophysiological reactivity. The methodolo gical requirements to be considered are listed. Details are given for the application of the suggested methodology in a subsample of functio nal disorders.