[Rooming-in in psychiatry--treatment indications and implementation]

Basing on the concept of rooming-in as the joint hospitalisation of mentally ill mothers and their children, which was developed in gynaecology and paediatrics, the differential indication, setting variables and therapeutic strategies relevant for inpatient psychotherapy were described. Therefore, 15 cases treated in the Department of Psychiatry of the Medical University Luebeck were reviewed. It will be demonstrated that a differentiated treatment approach with mothers with severe non-psychotic disorders can be realised. The advantages of the rooming-in approach seem to be on the one hand more adequate possibilities in the diagnosis and treatment of problems of mother-child interaction involving the nursing group, and on the other hand the rooming-in approach allows to identify connections between specific biographical events and actual conflicts related to birth and bringing up of the children.