Kaufmann Marie-Theresa, Nussmann Hannah D, Heller Ayline, Kasinger Christoph, Brähler Elmar, Gallistl Adrian, Strauß Bernhard
Institut für Psychosoziale Medizin, Psychotherapie und Psychoonkologie, Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, Germany.
Fachbereich für Angewandte Sozialwissenschaften, Fachhochschule Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 22;13:1601917. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1601917. eCollection 2025.
Maintaining trust in social institutions is a critical challenge for Western democracies. We examine the role of psychotherapy on institutional trust in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR; now: New Federal States of Germany) which used open and covert methods to keep opposition members under control.
The study with = 1,805 individuals who were born and socialized in the former GDR (i.e., born before 1980) was conducted in 2022. Logistic regression models to predict a person's probability of psychotherapy use after the system change from the GDR to the New Federal States of Germany were built using a basic model derived from the literature with predictor variables such as gender and education. This model was extended by experiences of repression. In a second analysis, linear regression models to predict institutional trust were analyzed following a similar strategy with the addition of psychotherapy experience as a predictor.
Reporting repression in the GDR (44% of the total sample) was related to a higher probability of psychotherapy use. In the group who reported personally experienced repression (15% of the total sample), psychotherapy appeared to be relevant for higher levels of institutional trust.
Psychotherapy might have the potential to help regaining institutional trust after a system change. Psychotherapists should consider that patients who experienced (post-)socialism were commonly affected by repression and might show less institutional trust including the healthcare system. Furthermore, this study revealed an estimation of the occurrence of repression in a representative sample in the former GDR.
对西方民主国家来说，维持社会机构中的信任是一项严峻挑战。我们考察了心理治疗在前德意志民主共和国（东德；现：德国新联邦州）对机构信任的作用，东德曾采用公开和隐蔽手段控制反对派成员。
2022年对1805名在前东德出生并社会化的个体（即1980年以前出生）进行了研究。使用从文献中得出的基本模型构建逻辑回归模型，以预测从东德到德国新联邦州制度变革后一个人接受心理治疗的概率，该模型的预测变量包括性别和教育程度等。通过压抑经历对该模型进行了扩展。在第二项分析中，采用类似策略分析线性回归模型以预测机构信任，并将心理治疗经历作为预测变量加入其中。
报告在东德遭受过压抑的情况（占总样本的44%）与接受心理治疗的较高概率相关。在报告个人经历过压抑的群体中（占总样本的15%），心理治疗似乎与更高水平的机构信任相关。
心理治疗可能有帮助在制度变革后重新获得机构信任的潜力。心理治疗师应考虑到经历过（后）社会主义的患者通常受到过压抑影响，可能对包括医疗系统在内的机构信任度较低。此外，本研究揭示了对前东德一个代表性样本中压抑发生率的估计。
