German developments in teaching psychosomatics and psychotherapy to medical students.

The necessities for a reform of teaching German medical students were manifold. With the help of those doctors responsible for primary care and by founding a society representing all behavioural scientists within medical teaching it was possible to firmly institutionalize psychosomatics and psychotherapy within the new Medical Approbation Law. It is too early to assess the impact of this drastic reform but some of its advantages are already obvious.