[Progress in disability pensions for psychosomatic patients]

Only part of the invalidity pensioning courses seen can be traced to medically substantiated illness and disablement. Another part of these courses, with an extraordinarily high share in particular from the psychosomatic field, consists of a gradual psychosocial down-grading which, though possibly triggered by illness and disablement, essentially is enhanced, or countered, by specifies of individual personality, family, labour market, or medical doctors' behaviour. The matter dealt with only seems to be a dry one. The fates of those affected are oppressive, regardless of whether pensioning ensues or not. Frequently, the entire family is involved by the improvement taking place. At the same time, enormous spending accumulates due to the coverage provided by the statutory health and pension insurance schemes. It is therefore considered appropriate that an invalidity pensioning study be conducted specifically directed at pensioning behaviours, at clarifying the weight of the various factors involved and at investigating the effectiveness of rehabilitative instruments in the various phases. The findings should form the basis also for improved preventive approaches, such as energetic measures to combat meaningless certification of illness or "parking-off" of patients in long-term unemployment, while rehabilitative service provision is totally neglected.