[The state of intensive care medicine from a medico-psychological view point]

The establishment of intensive care units has brought about increasing psychological problems not only for the patients and their relatives, but also for the personnel involved. Following a brief presentation of these problems, various techniques of intervention are discussed from the point of view of medical psychology. A new model of patient care by laymen (i. e. students) is reported in addition to the psychotherapeutic tasks of the psychologist.