THE PSYCHOSOMATIC PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMAND AN D MEDICAL-CARE IN THE PRIMARY-CARE HOSPITAL

A questionnaire submitted in 1986 to ward physicians in internal medic ine in 9 out of 11 public hospitals (eight General Hospitals and the U niversity Hospital) in the city of Hamburg documents their remarkable awareness of psychosocial problems. Noticable, however, is the compara bly low assessment of the prevalence of psychosomatic diseases. The de sire for assistance through a psychossomatic consultation service is m uch greater than actual rates of request. The status of psychosomatic care is judged to be very unsatisfactory. The collected data and the b road agreement to integrate psychosomatic forms of organization into t he care of medical in-patients lead to the conclusion that there is an encouragingly great readiness to co-operate. Considering the very dif ferent experiences found in already existing models, the results indic ate the necessity of a more in-depth examination of the process of co- operation between somatics and psychosomatics.