DAS HEIDELBERGER KATAMNESEPROGRAMM

The Follow-up Psychotherapy Programme of the Psychosomatic Clinic Heidelberg is an attempt launched early in 1978 to use individual and non-individual criteria to obtain an overall picture of all psychotherapeutic treatment undertaken at the clinic with specific reference to its short- and long-term effects, in brief, a study of the degree of effectiveness and stability of successful psychotherapy. Additionally, pairing off clinical case-types with therapy techniques is used as a means of examining the question of indications. The Follow-up Psychotherapy Programme is designed as a prospective study, attempting to evaluate the relevant data at three levels: objective data, such as days in hospital, number of days absent from work etc; subjective data on the basis of psychology test findings; and assessment of therapy success (response to therapy) by an independent therapist or follow-up psychotherapy specialist on the basis of established criteria (as in the 'goal attainment' procedure) and evaluation of ratings taking into account individual psychodynamic development.