[Indications for psychotherapeutic treatment of functional dysphonias]

Functional voice disorders require adequate psychiatric screening and treatment due to the complex etiologies of the psychic elements involved. While the diagnosis of dysphonia increasingly takes into account various emotional factors, considerations of indications for psychotherapy and for differing forms of psychotherapy are missing in the literature. To fill this gap, the aims and principles of a number of psychoanalytically based therapeutic methods are presented. Criteria for general indications for treatment and with respect to patients with functional voice disorders are outlined. Case reports of patients with functional voice disorders illustrate individual methods for diagnosis and treatment. Finally, the necessity, for the development of general criteria for differential indications for psychotherapy in functional voice disorders is pointed out.