Therapy

Psychotherapy is the curative treatment of mental or psychologically (co-)caused physical illnesses. The goal is to change feelings, thoughts, attitudes, or behavior. These changes can be achieved in a trusting relationship between therapist and patient, in which both jointly develop a solution to the problems to be treated. In conversation or in exercises, changes in experience and behavior are prepared and promoted. Psychotherapy is usually a long-term process.

Scientifically and socially recognized psychotherapeutic methods are psychoanalytic psychotherapy, depth psychologically based psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and systemic therapy. Our outpatient clinic offers treatment in the first three of these procedures. For all methods, the most important basis is the trusting relationship between patient and therapist, which is characterized by appreciation. The frequency of the sessions is always adapted to the individual situation.

Depth psychology-based psychotherapy focuses on the effects of the unconscious (unconscious or misunderstood desires, motives, and conflicts) and the continuing influences of childhood and adolescence. Within the framework of depth psychologically based psychotherapy, it is assumed that deep-seated, unconscious psychological processes have an effect on a person's mental health. The focus of treatment is on clarifying the underlying causes of the complaints. The goal is to uncover and work on conflicting psychological motives or representations, which should result in a reduction of the complaints. Great importance is attached to the psychotherapeutic relationship, since the conflict patterns are revealed and worked on in the course of the treatment.

Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses directly on the patient's current problems and circumstances. Therapy goals are jointly formulated and independence in achieving them is supported in the therapeutic process. The focus of the treatment is on actively coping with the problems and practicing new behaviors or thought patterns. The therapist's role is active: he/she helps to understand the behavioral patterns acquired in the patient's life history and supports the patient's steps towards a change in thinking, feeling, and acting. The results of psychological research, including medical findings, serve as the based knowledge for this.

Psychoanalysis is based on conflicting forces in the personality. The aim is to give patients a deeper understanding of the causal connections of their suffering, which they have been mostly unaware of, and to help them uncover life histories that have become unconscious. A central treatment technique is the interpretation of unconscious aspects of the patient's experience from their reports. Patients should explore their unconscious motives themselves, thereby acknowledging their existence and integrating split-off and rejected parts of themselves. Because from unconscious motives, as for example from unconscious feelings of guilt, a person experiences himself e.g. in form of inhibitions, work disturbances, or also self-punishment tendencies up to heavy depressions foreign-determined. In this respect, psychoanalysis is concerned with a liberation from internalized heteronomy, which can be the cause of psychological disorders and associated symptoms. Psychoanalysis is typically characterized by a high frequency and long duration of treatment.

Research in recent decades has shown that all three psychotherapeutic methods are similarly effective. Important prerequisites for the effect of psychotherapy seem to be a good therapeutic relationship, a shared understanding of the patient’s problem between patient and therapist, and goals for change derived from this. In an initial consultation prior to treatment, we will discuss with you which method might be best suited to you and your particular problem. Your goals, expectations, and wishes play a central role in this decision.