[Status, possibilities and limitations of therapies in psychosomatic day clinics]

During the past few years, several psychosomatic day clinics have been established. The goal of this paper was to research the programs these day hospitals offer, their general set-up, as well as their indication criteria. We surveyed 18 day clinics, which we had identified via internet. Most of the day clinics have the capability to treat between ten and twenty patients and work mainly with group concepts. Mean treatment duration ranges from 7 to 12 weeks. Although having patients with different diagnoses, most day clinics treat them together, while some day clinics concentrate on special diagnoses (eating disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders). Overall, the day clinics' main diagnoses, therapeutic programs, and treatment durations are comparable with those of in-patient hospitals in Germany. It appears that day clinic treatment is especially appropriate for patients who have difficulties in incorporating their experiences from an (in-house) therapy into the real world, as well as patients who have to care for family members (e. g. children) while in treatment. An enquiry to the federal states of Germany showed that, in the area of psychotherapeutic medicine, there are 324 day clinic places as well as 2,639 beds for acute inpatient treatment available. Six federal states, however, do not allocate beds for psychotherapeutic medicine in particular, but assign them to the area of psychiatry.