[Usefulness of the HHM complaint list (Hamburg-Heidelberg-Munich complaint list)].

A study on the Hamburg-Heidelberg-München complaint-list (HHM, v. Zerssen, 1976) raised the question of the clinical usefulness of an overall summation score. 2 samples (215 patients, 326 healthy subjects) participated; emphasis was mainly on patients. From the results obtained through factor analysis the interpretation of a single factor-solution (general factor) is justified. This factor correlated highly with the "neuroticism-", "depression-", and "general well-being"-dimensions in inventories like FPI, GT and PND-S. The rotated factor matrix (mineigen greater than or equal to 1) permits a reasonable interpretation of 6 factors. The first and partly the second factor represent domains like mood, well-being and drive (factor I: gloomy, depressive mood; factor II: exhaustion, fatigue). Distinctive somatic complaints are muscle and joint pains , breathing and swallowing difficulties, and (less pronounced) gastro-intestinal and urogenital pains. The suggestion and proceeding of other authors is supported, to improve the usefulness of such an inventory by extending distinct somatic-psychosomatic complaints.