[Psychogenic disorders in males and females]

The influence of sex difference on symptoms, behavior during illness, the interactional dynamics of conflict, and external society reality is studied here in two random samples of 615 and 739 patients who sought psychotherapeutic treatment. The comparison shows that greater importance is attached to interpersonal relations and social reality (early marriage with child, separation, divorce) as well as to coming to terms with these things emotionally among women, who were in the majority in all clinical studies. Women often fall ill because of difficult relationships from which they cannot free themselves inwardly and toward which the remain oriented with disappointment and complaints, even after actual separation. A stronger need for close personal relationships leads them (often against the background of a conflict-ridden parental family) to an early partnership that is often cemented by pregnancy, only to be dissolved later by divorce. The counter-image of such relational problems is more often found among male patients, who show difficulties in limiting their own autonomy and in establishing dependable emotional ties and social relations. The relationships between the different realities of the two sexes, the structure of their needs and the resulting predilection to illness are examined in detail.