Background: Somatoform symptoms are a prevalent and disabling condition in primary practice, causing high medical care utilization. Objective: To compare the short and long term effects of cognitive behavioral outpatient group-therapy to a relaxation-group and a waiting-control-group, on physical symptoms, anxiety, depression, functional health, symptomspecific cognitions and illness-behavior. Methods: 135 subjects were treated and assessed in a randomized control group design. The manualized interventions comprised eight sessions. Results: The cognitive-behavioral group treatment lead to lower levels of somatoform symptoms (SOMS-7) and enhanced mental health (SF-12). There were no differential effects between cognitive-behavioral therapy and relaxation treatment on any of the analysed variables. Conclusions: This brief cognitive-behavioral group therapy has beneficial effects on ambulatory patients with somatoform. To enhance effect sizes and facilitate differential effects, future studies should consider applying increased therapy dosage.