Therapy expectation in different groups of patients with chronic diseases

In a questionnaire study on 865 patients suffering from different psychosomatic and somatopsychic disorders their therapy expectations were analyzed. The complete scale of the test holds 47 items (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91) grouped into for subscales: subjective experience of the disease (subscale 1, ii items, alpha = 0.76), lay concept (subscale 2, 8 items, alpha = 0.71), general attitudes and expectations concerning treatment (subscale 3, 8 items, alpha = 0.81) and previous experiences with psychotherapeutic concepts of treatment (20 items, alpha = 0.86). The results of the study show that patients with a prominent somatopsychic disorder have a significantly lower motivation for psychotherapy than typical psychosomatic and psychiatric patients. Therefore characteristically neurotic patients with predominant psychic symptoms present the highest motivation for psychotherapy. The results for the different subgroups of patients were discussed with regard to the different factors of therapy expectations and to the indication for psychotherapy.