[Can quality of life be measured? Problems of quantitative and possibilities for qualitative assessment of quality of life in psychiatry].

In a critical review of the theoretical background and recent empirical results of quality of life research in psychiatry the problems of a onesided quantitative methodological orientation will be discussed. For the surmounting of the theoretical difficulties a dynamic model of subjective quality of life in psychiatry will be presented and according to this model the necessity of a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods will be suggested.