[Psychosomatic disease in female teachers. Social context, contents and perspectives of inpatient treatment with a goal of rehabilitation and return to work].

Despite the considerable consequences, school teachers treated in psychosomatic in-patient settings, have not yet been the subject of investigations. Whether, for whom and which kind of job related treatment can be helpful for teachers returning to work can only be discussed if the specific stress and the social situation of teachers as public officials ("Beamtenstatus") are taken into consideration. On this point of view a systematic evaluation of 63 psychosomatically ill teachers consecutively admitted in a psychosomatic hospital was performed. The average age was 50, suffering mostly from depression or/and tinnitus. Most teachers rated job related stress as influencing their symptomatologies. A program focusing on discrepancies between personal ideals versus real situations in school, problems in social interactions and time management, should be a valuable part of the teachers' psychosomatic inpatient treatment. This approach was affected by a strong desire for early retirement in about half of the teachers.