My 2p FWIW.
I agree entirely that “autonomes Nervensystem = vegetatives Nervensystem, and that they are equivalent to "autonomic nervous system" in English, as can be seen from my comments in other threads.
related discussion: vegetatives Nervensystem - #3
related discussion: vegetative nervous system - vegetatives Nerv... - #7
supported by gygis in comment #8
Whereas "vegetative nervous system" is no longer used in English, vegetatives Nervensystem is still used as much as (if not more than?) autonomes Nervensystem in German.
I have not really come across psychovegetativ used in German before, but from the definitions given above (Psyche und vegetatives Nervensystem zugleich betreffend) it links the autonomic nervous system to higher cerebral functions.
Looking at a few examples of its usage:
“zu den psychovegetativen Beschwerden gehören Nervosität und Angst sowie depressive Verstimmungen”
https://www.stada.de/service-gesundheit/stada...
"Erkrankungen des psychovegetativen Nervensystems"
"… Ein- und Durchschlafstörungen, bei Angst,- Spannungs- und Unruhezuständen sowie bei depressiver Verstimmung …"
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978...
"... andere (extrakardiale) Ursachen: z. B. Hyperthyreose (Schilddrüsenüberfunktion), Elektrolytstörungen (Kalium, Magnesium, Calcium), Hypoxie, Holiday-Heart-Syndrom (durch Alkohol ausgelöste Rhythmusstörung), psychovegetativ (Angst, Stress, Übermüdung) ..."
http://www.gesundheits-lexikon.com/Herz-Kreis...
The above are not pure ANS symptoms but mental health issues closely linked to autonomic (dys)function, e.g. anxiety activates the ANS.
“Psychovegetative Erschöpfung”
„Den vielfältigen und übergreifenden Symptomen des „Burnout Syndroms“ und des „chronischen Müdigkeitssyndroms“ (CFS) liegt eine Störung des vegetativen (unwillkürlichen) Nervensystems zu Grunde.“
http://www.dr-med-schreiber.de/aerztliche-lei...
"Burn-out Erschöpfungssyndrom / psychovegetative Erschöpfung
[...]
Innere Nervosität, Erschöpfung und Depression folgen daraus. […] Oft sind diese Zustände von körperlichen Symptomen des vegetativen Nervensystems begleitet."
https://www.kuren.ch/psychosomatisch/burn-out...
CFS and burnout are mental health issues closely associated with autonomic dysfunction.
I really don’t think they are described as “psychovegetative” in English.
My impression from the Google hits for “psychovegetative” in English is that they are examples of use by non-native English speakers in translations mainly from German sources. Looking at site:.uk and site:.edu, in most of the few papers by NESs, the word could be traced back to a reference to a German, Russian or other non-native source.
I also looked at “psycho-autonomic” in English – again, mainly German/Russian sources (e.g.”psycho-autonomic exhaustion” for burnout). I found only a very few reputable NES source, for example:
“Individuals' stimulus-locked, phasic SCRs and trial-by-trial behavioral assessments were entered as regressors into a flexible factorial design to establish their separate autonomic and behavioral neural correlates, and convolved to examine psycho-autonomic interaction (PAI) effects.”
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/...
“ … for from its constituent elements may be eventually forged the dynamic energy of psycho-autonomic activity.”
(1937)
https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/2/4008/845.fu...
So, in answer to your questions:
> Which leaves only the psychovegativ adjective , which I assume is just a variant form of vegetativ, but I don't see proof of that, only a likelihood of it. If correct, that would make autonomic the correct translation for psychovegetativ.
I don’t think it is just a variant – it adds the mental health aspect – and "autonomic" is therefore not a correct translation.
> Any opinions on that? I.e., psychovegetativen Nervensysteme appears to me to be a synonym, or alternate term, or outdated term, for vegetativen Nervensysteme. Is that a correct assumption?
I don’t think so – the autonomic nervous system per se does not include the higher nervous functions.
> And can we add psychovegetativ – autonomic to the dictionary as a translation pair?
No. I can find no proof that this is a valid translation.
The best I can suggest is “psycho-autonomic” but even that with reservation, as it is hardly ever used in English - there is no recognised concept of a "psychovegetative/psycho-autonomic nervous system" .
It might be of more use to enter the pair “burnout - psychovegetative Erschöpfung”
