[Multi-axial diagnosis in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy--a report of experiences].

A certain number of attempts to establish a multi-axial classification system in psychiatry go back to before the introduction of the DSM-III. Such diagnostic and classificatory attempts are almost totally lacking, however, in the fields of psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine. This discussion presents and evaluates a multi-axial diagnostic and documentary system that has been under development and testing in the Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Göttingen since 1986 as well as first empirical results from the year 1987. Results show that multi-axial diagnostics represent a useful and promising approach, particularly for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.