[Older Patients in the Psychosomatic Clinic: Health, Attachment and Mentalisation]

Up to now, little is known about the group of older people treated in psychosomatic clinics, although the number of people in this age group who undergo treatment is increasing. In the study presented here, a sample of patients (age: 60 and above; n=83) from two psychosomatic clinics and a sample of clinically inconspicuous subjects (n=89) of the same age were examined. In addition to health variables, in which the group of older patients differed from the clinically inconspicuous as well as from younger patients, the connection between attachment and mentalization was examined more closely within the framework of two regression analyses. This showed that attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance were significantly more pronounced in the clinical group, but both were associated with different mentalization aspects. Based on these observations, some conclusions are drawn with regard to the treatment of older patients in psychosomatic clinics.