[Psychological symptoms after immigration: a comparison of various groups of immigrants in Berlin].

Abstract

In a postal questionnaire we examined three samples of persons seven and a half months after their migration to Berlin: 1. 512 people having left East Germany, 2. 90 Germans who had left Poland, and 3. 283 people who lived in western parts of Germany before. The present study was to investigate social integration and psychic complaints in these groups. In general, all groups reported increased frequencies of unspecific symptoms like inner restlessness, irritability, nervousness, rumination, and sleeplessness. In people from the GDR symptoms decreased significantly during the first seven months after migration. Symptoms of people who had come from western parts of Germany increased within this period. Generally the course of symptoms was more favorable, when people found a satisfactory job.