Report of an epidemiological field study about neuroses and psychosomatic disorders

Our field study deals with a cohort investigation and a follow-up study of the age groups 1935, 1945 and 1955. The sample consists of 600 randomly selected Germans living in an industrial city (Mannheim/FRG). 200 subjects of each of the age groups are to be examined personally with regard to ICD diagnoses 300-307 (WHO, 8th rev.); these are: psychoneuroses, personality disorders, sexual deviations, alcohol and drug addiction, functional and other psychosomatic diseases. Preliminary countings from the first research check-up of the sample revealed 26% of cases with a clear predominance of females and statistically significant connections between actual disease and impairing or disturbing influences during early childhood.