The much discussed relationships between psychosocial health and the workplace are the subject of the present paper. In particular, the study examines the hypotheses that the incidence of psychic and psychosomatic disorders has increased and that this development is a result of working conditions in the modern world. On the basis of a bio-psychosocial concept of health, according to which psychic disorders are considered to involve multiconditional precipitators, the author suggests that working conditions and also the phenomenon of unemployment must be seen as important factors in the development and course of psychic and psychosomatic disorders because participation in gainful employment plays a central role in the psychosocial development of individuals in our society. Finally the author concludes that modern occupational medicine must develop more competence in understanding and dealing with psychosocial parameters both at the individual and the organizational levels and at the same time must take care not to ignore the social perspective.
