ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: People with psychiatric diseases are often afflicted by processes of social disintegration and social problems are of great importance for the treatment of the mentally ill. METHODS: Two departments of psychiatry and psychotherapy with obligatory service for their area - one in an inner city area of a large town with disadvantageous social structure, one in a small town with more favourable economic data - collected data during a two-months-period in 1998 according to the social situation of their patients. RESULTS: 38,0 % resp. 31,9 % of the patients were living under conditions of poverty; 12,2 % resp. 11,5 % had acute housing problems, only 17,3 % resp. 31,7 % had some kind of payed occupation. Poverty was defined either as being dependent on public assistance or having an income below 50 % of the average. Patients with schizophrenic psychosis and patients with substance abuse related disorders formed in both departments the main groups and were at the same time those with the lowest income. Patients with substance abuse, mainly alcoholics, were more afflicted by social disintegration in the inner city area than in the small town sample. Concerning schizophrenic disorders, regional differences were not as prominent. CONCLUSIONS: The high risk of poverty among the mentally ill has to be taken in account in the development of community services, hospital staff and social legislation.
