[Social support and psychogenic disease. Results of an epidemiologic field study]

Within the framework of an Extensive epidemiological field study on the prevalence of psychogenic illness among the "healthy" population of a large city, the question of social network and stressful personal experiences was asked in order to test a hypothesis. The results showed that people who suffer more intensely from psychogenic symptoms (psychoneuroses, psychosomatic illnesses, manifestations of character neurosis) clearly often lack a protective network of close reference persons.