[Comorbidity of mental and internal medical disorders in inpatients treated at the clinic for technical orthopedics].

Due to the severity of their clinical picture and their shattered sense of physical inviolability that almost always is associated with their condition as well as their changed physical appearance, inpatients being treated at the clinic for technical orthopedics frequently exhibit comorbid mental disorders. This article examines these mental health comorbidities. The proportion of adjustment disorders in this group was shown to be noticeably higher than in a comparative group of outpatients attending a psychosomatic/psychotherapeutic clinic. Furthermore, diabetes mellitus proved to be another statistically significant organic comorbidity in the patients treated at the clinic for technical orthopedics. This article discusses the extent to which the chronicity of this disease affects the psychosomatic diagnoses but also the course of the treatment in the clinic for technical orthopedics. In conclusion, this article emphasizes the need for close interdisciplinary management for this highly selected patient group because of the high rates of comorbidity.