[An integrated understanding of subjective disorders in clinical practice].

The manner in which a patient copes with psychosocial stress factors may be described as «allostatic load» – the balance between the individual’s coping resources and the sociocultural expectations and demands to which the individual is exposed. Context and biography are crucial for coping, and vulnerable individuals more readily develop an inability to cope. Maintaining factors for subjective disorders are negative expectations of coping and a pessimistic interpretation, such as helplessness and hopelessness. This understanding may be further developed into a tool for the assessment and treatment of individuals with a subjective disorder Here we choose to emphasise maintaining factors, which are what we mainly encounter in clinical practice and regarding which we have an opportunity to intervene. Triggering factors vary – different aetiology may result in the same maintaining factors.