FAQ

If you feel psychologically distressed over a longer period of time or think you need help, it is advisable to seek a consultation with a psychotherapist. An initial consultation can tell you whether outpatient psychotherapy is recommended for you. Psychotherapy can be useful for people of all ages.

Psychotherapy always begins with “psychotherapeutic consultations”. During these consultations, psychotherapists want to get an overview of your symptoms. To do this, they ask you questions and use questionnaires for diagnostics. In this way, psychotherapists can give you an assessment of whether psychotherapy is generally recommended or whether another service is currently more suitable.

First of all, you will need some time. In the first session, you will be asked a few questions to gain a good understanding of your concerns. Before your appointment, you will receive a detailed letter listing exactly what you should bring with you to the initial consultation. Please bring your health insurance card and final reports from previous therapies/clinic stays with you. Further documents can be found in the checklist that will be sent to you before your first appointment.

If you and your therapist decide to undergo psychotherapy after the psychotherapeutic consultation and the “probationary period”, an application for outpatient psychotherapy will be submitted to the health insurance company. If it makes sense, e.g. in the case of physical illnesses, we work together with the doctors treating you.

Behavioural therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is recognized as effective. The focus here is on the interplay between thoughts, feelings and behavior. If you are stressed and start behavioral therapy, it is important to find out together what has caused the stress. You may find it difficult to get out of the stress. This is where behavioral therapy comes in. You and your therapist work together to develop goals and a therapy plan for change. Possible goals could be, for example, to gain a new perspective on problems or to improve your ability to cope with stress. To this end, we use exercises in the therapy sessions, but also in the time between sessions.

The duration of psychotherapy varies greatly. This is because mental illnesses are also different. Some stresses have only recently arisen, others may have been going on for several years. Behavioral therapy can take place as part of acute or short-term therapy (up to 24 sessions) or as part of long-term therapy (up to 60 sessions). It can be extended under certain conditions. A single therapy session usually takes place weekly and lasts 50 minutes.

There are various people who offer psychotherapy. Psychological psychotherapists work with adults aged 18 and over. Child and adolescent psychotherapists are responsible for children and adolescents up to the age of 20. Psychotherapists cannot prescribe medication. This can take place in addition to psychotherapy but must be accompanied by a psychiatrist.

Psychiatrists are usually doctors with a degree in medicine and further training as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. In addition to psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatrists are also allowed to offer and supervise drug treatment.

Psychotherapy can usually be ended at any time. If you are considering ending your treatment, it is best to talk to your psychotherapist. This will allow you to discuss everything else. At the end of therapy, it often makes sense to reiterate what is important to you – also for the time after therapy.

Many of the questions briefly answered here are described in detail on the page “Wege zur Psychotherapie” (“Pathways to psychotherapy”). If you are looking for more information, you can visit this website: https://www.wege-zur-psychotherapie.org/. The information on this page is only available in German.