J Public Health (2004) 12:359–364 DOI 10.1007/s10389-004-0071-0 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Friedhelm Meyer · Jürgen Matzat · Anke Höflich · Sigrid Scholz · Manfred E. Beutel Self-help groups for psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders in Germany—themes, frequency and support by self-help advice centres Received: 22 March 2004 / Accepted: 10 August 2004 / Published online: 21 October 2004  Springer-Verlag 2004 Abstract Self-help groups have found increasing recog- nition by health professionals in recent years. However, considerable research deficits remain, particularly re- garding self-help groups for persons with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. We present a survey on the dissemination and differentiation of such groups in Ger- many and their support by self-help advice centres. Most likely, more than 5,000 of these groups exist covering a broad range of psychiatric disorders, particularly groups for families and partners, bereavement, anxiety disorders, depression, and eating disorders. These groups are sup- ported by self-help advice centres in various ways from information to group counselling in difficult periods. The results of the survey encourage further in depth study of self-help groups, their cooperation with psychotherapists, and their health promoting potentials. Keywords Self-help groups · Psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders · Care system Introduction The significance and value of self-help groups have increasingly been acknowledged following the lasting scepticism or rejection by professionals in many areas of health care. They have been named the “fourth column” of Germany’s health care system (Matzat 2002a), in ad- dition to office-based physicians, hospitals and the public health service. Nationwide self-help organisations have evolved representing a variety of self-help groups for people with chronic diseases, disabilities or addictions. Psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders, however, are hardly represented. This may be due to the nature of these disorders (frequently associated with interpersonal prob- lems, social inhibition etc.), and their stigmatization. In many cities and districts in Germany, professionally run self-help advice centres (“Selbsthilfe-Kontaktstelle”) have been established in order to provide assistance in devel- oping and supporting self-help initiatives (Matzat 1999, 2002b). The effectiveness of these centres was supported by scientific programmes of the Federal Health Ministry (Braun et al. 1997). A national self-help clearing house (NAKOS) has been established in Berlin according to recommendations of the WHO’s European regional of- fice. This institution—among other activities—surveys relevant activities of the self-help advice centres. It is run by the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Selbsthilfegruppen (DAG SHG), an association of self-help supporters who are mainly professionals from psychology, social work and similar fields. In particular, they support self-help groups—no matter what their theme is—on a regional basis by professionally organised self-help advice centres and encourage self-organised groups of people suffering from diseases or special social problems based on per- sonal exchange of experience and mutual support. DAG SHG is one of the organisations which have been ac- knowledged by the Statutory Health Insurances as a part- ner for the realisation of their self-help supporting activ- ities, and was called upon by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security to send representatives to the newly established “Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss”, the highest decision-making body in Germany’s self-gov- erning health system. Despite this development there have been hardly any systematic scientific studies regarding access, utilisation and effectiveness of self-help groups—with the exception of the area of addiction (cf. Emrick et al. 1993; Kyrouz & Humphreys 2003). In public health research this issue has Funded by BKK Bundesverband, project grant “Self-help groups for psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders”. F. Meyer ( ) ) · A. Höflich · S. Scholz · M. E. Beutel Klinik für Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie, Friedrichstrasse 28, 35392 Gießen, Germany e-mail: friedhelm.meyer@psycho.med.uni-giessen.de Tel.: +49-641-9945621 Fax: +49-641-9945669 J. Matzat Kontaktstelle für Selbsthilfegruppen, Friedrichstrasse 33, 35392 Gießen, Germany