[Psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy in Austria].

In present-day Austria, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy enjoy significantly more sociopolitical and cultural recognition perhaps as a heritage from the days of the Austrian monarchy -- than is reflected in their real presence. This development can be traced back to prewar times and the repudiation of the destructive national socialistic ideology. There is an immanent conflict between specialization in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy as an independent field of medicine and the integration of a psychosomatic basic approach into the general fields of medicine. The organization of psychotherapy is doubly anchored in the laws governing medical practice (PSY diploma) and the statutes governing the practice of psychotherapy; this, however, has not resolved the sensitive and only partially creative tension between the two. Austrian medical health politics are currently characterized by renewed efforts to organize the field of psychosomatic medicine. Should medical psychology and psychotherapy, internal medicine, psychiatry or general medicine provide the foundations for this new organization? This conflict is crucial since it will influence the further development of the entire medical field.