Psychoanalytic group therapy in the treatment of severe psychosomatic dysfunctions--experiences since 1981.

As a gynecologist and analytical psychotherapist, I have been treating women suffering from severe psychosomatic gynecological dysfunctions in a semi-open psychoanalytic group since 1981. The duration of therapy is 2-3 years, and the success rate 85%. The subjective symptoms include chronic recurrent disorders of the urogenital tract in terms of urogenital resistance, chronic pelvic pain with no organic findings, pruritus vulvae, 'burning vulva' and premenstrual syndromes. These conditions are often associated with sexual dysfunctions, a disturbed experience of the body image and substantial relationship conflicts. All patients are suffering from a psychoneurosis on a broad structural basis, due psychogenetically to early unresolved triangulation.