[Psychiatric hospitalization of divorced persons]

100 records of divorced inpatients were compared with 100 records of married inpatients after having been matched according to sex, age, and social background. Almost 50% of the divorced patients were hospitalized within the first year after their divorce, i.e, this is the period which should be concentrated on when taking preventive measures. The most frequent duration of the marriage was between 5 to 10 years whereas in the population it was only between 3 and 5 years. This suggests that divorces after only a few years of marriage do not have such traumatic effects. The diagnoses of psychopathic personality, alcohol and drug dependence, attempted suicide and neurotic and reactive depressions were more frequently made with divorced that with married patients. Affective psychosis and cerebral-organic illnesses, however, were not so often found. The divorced patients being hospitalized within the first year after their divorce could be divided into two subgroups. The first subgroup comprised patients with frequent diagnosis of personality disorders and attempted suicide who were hospitalized for the first time after their divorce and needed only a short-term stay in hospital. In the second subgroup were patients who had already been hospitalized before their divorce - frequently with the diagnosis of schizophrenia -; that means they became recidivous after their divorce and needed a long-term stay in hospital. Social problems were especially relevant with divorced patients.