As psychological factors have a substantial influence on the further medical, psychological and occupational career of a patient with somatic disease, early identification of patients with psychological disturbances is of special importance in medical rehabilitation. The share of psychologically disturbed patients in a cardiac rehabilitation clinic has been screened. Different methods for identification of anxious and depressive patients (by medical and psychological staff as well as a screening instrument) are compared. Concluding, the benefit of introducing a screening instrument as a routine procedure is discussed under the aspect of effectivity.