[Advantages of short-term therapy in vaginal mycoses from a socio-psychological viewpoint]

As has become evident from an interview of 161 patients affected by vaginal mycosis, the subjective experience of the disease must be seen in relation to the sociopsychological problems involved. Assumed negative reactions to the disease in the patient's social environment as well as fear and uncertainty regarding the aetiology of the disease make it hard for the patient to accept her disease, which would surely favour a steadfast therapeutic behaviour. For the gynaecologist the finding of a "vaginal mycosis" represents an unproblematic affection since it is easily controllable with antimycotics. The result of this different approach to the disease by doctor and patient is non-compliance of the vaginal mycosis patient: the patient goes to see her doctor soon after the appearance of complaints, but tends to terminate treatment prematurely when the subjective complaints subside, in order to avoid a further confrontation with the disease. An adequate, short-term treatment of vaginal mycosis, the course of which is supervised both clinically and microbiologically, thus appears to be the right way of solving the problem of non-compliance.