[Training background, everyday practice, and training needs of group therapists working in inpatient psychotherapy - Results of a survey]. / Ausbildungshintergrund, Alltagspraxis und Weiterbildungsbedarf von Gruppenpsychotherapeuten in der stationären Psychotherapie - Ergebnisse einer Umfrage.

OBJECTIVES: A survey serves to clarify whether psychotherapists working in inpatient and day treatment psychotherapeutic hospitals feel sufficiently trained as group therapists and what their specific training needs are. METHODS: The survey queried 175 therapists from different hospitals and professions who perform group psychotherapy in their hospital. The questionnaire focussed on training experiences, everyday group practice, and training needs. RESULTS: As expected, only some of the therapists had completed training as group therapist. The therapists are faced with a wide variety of group formats and patients in their everyday work and reveal a broad spectrum of training needs. CONCLUSIONS: The survey, although not entirely representative, indicates general and specific needs of group therapists within psychotherapeutic hospitals and underlines the role of training and therapist experience in reducing uneasiness toward group psychotherapy.

[Operationalized psychodynamic diagnostic (OPD)--potential for quality assurance]. / Potenzial der Operationalisierten Psychodynamische Diagnostik (OPD) für die Qualitatssicherung.

OBJECTIVES: Psychotherapy is subjected to the legal conditions of quality assurance(QA). Does operationalized psychodynamic diagnostics (OPD) contribute substantially to this? METHODS: We investigated the application of OPD in outpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy, inpatient treatment, rehabilitation, and legal assessment. RESULTS: Psychodynamic diagnostics, treatment plan, and evaluation by means of the OPD and Heidelberg Structural Change Scale (HSCS) may be comprehensibly described for quality assurance (QA) of outpatient and inpatient psychotherapy. Virtually all psychodynamic conceptualized departments for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy as well as some rehabilitation centres applied OPD. Furthermore, data-collection periods were defined during and after inpatient short- and long-term psychotherapy. OPD serves QA in legal assessment and is of a pivotal significance in judicial proceedings. CONCLUSIONS: It must be deliberated whether more extensive use of QA, in cooperation with outpatient psychotherapists and in comparison to institutions, could be of benefit to patients.

[Relationship of sick leave before treatment to severity of symptoms and treatment outcome in in-patients with anxiety disorders]. / Zusammenhang der Arbeitsunfähigkeit vor Therapiebeginn mit Störungsgrad und Therapieerfolg bei stationären Angstpatienten.

The aim of this study is to explore whether or not being already on sick leave at admission to a psychosomatic clinic indicates a higher level of severity of symptoms in patients with anxiety disorders, and whether or not this has an impact on therapy outcome. We examined 194 in-patients at 8 psychosomatic clinics upon admission and discharge by interview and psychometric testing. Being on sick leave before admission proved to be an indicator for higher global symptom distress as well as a higher severity of anxiety symptoms. Treatment duration was longer for the sick leave group than for the patients that had not been on sick leave, but each group experienced the same degree of change in pre-and-post treatment symptoms. We conclude that sick leave before admission does give information about illness severity and need of treatment in patients with anxiety disorders.