Symptomatics and life events by German eastern and western psychotherapy patients

The results of parallel comparative studies carried out on patients in psychotherapy in the University Clinics for Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics of Halle and Düsseldorf are presented in this paper. The investigation setting operationalized the constructs of symptomatics, cause attribution, treatment expectationns, events in life and assessment of emotional support. There are no differences between the two groups of people as far as symptomatics and image of oneself is concerned. However, patients in Halle experience a much higher number of critical events in their professional lives than the group in Düsseldorf. Although there was no difference in cause attribution in the two groups, the patients in Halle preferred in-clinic group therapy as a form of treatment whereas patients in Düsseldorf saw better opportunities to improve their situation in individual treatment as outpatients.