Fig. 1.

 Summarised representation of contact to other affected persons. Each column on the left shows the distribution of answers in the group with no clinical signs of psychological distress, while the column on the right shows the results for the group with clinical signs of psychological distress. The respective share for every answer is shown: 1. Individuals had contact to others and this contact was considered helpful (green); 2. Individuals had contact to others and this contact was considered not helpful (yellow); 3. Individuals have no contact but would like contact (orange); 4. Individuals have no contact but do not wish for contact (red); 5. Not specified or ambivalent answers (grey). The graph shows that the proportion of the group with contact to others (green and yellow areas) differs considerably between the 3 diagnostic groups. Most persons who had contacts to others considered them to be helpful (green area). The wish to have contact was expressed most often by women with a diagnosis of PCOS and clinical signs of psychological distress (column on the right, red area).