Psychotherapists and Information on Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a medical specialty that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of mental (psychological) disorders. Psychiatrists define mental disorders as pathological impairments of behavior, perception, thinking, and/or emotions.

Mental illnesses may also involve the following difficulties:

• Processing of past experiences or
• Relationships with people in one’s social circle (social relationships)

Specialists in psychiatry have completed advanced training to become board-certified specialists in psychiatry and psychotherapy and are known as psychiatrists.

A few years ago, doctors still had the option of becoming specialists in neurology (neurologists). Since 2003, the training regulations of the German Medical Association have recognized only the specialty of psychiatry and psychotherapy.

The training to become a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy takes five years. Of this time, the trainee psychiatrist spends 24 months providing inpatient psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy). An additional 12 months are spent in neurology.

Depending on their area of specialization, the trainee psychiatrist may gain additional experience in the following areas:

• in outpatient care
• in child and adolescent psychiatry
• in psychosomatic medicine
• in forensic psychiatry

Physicians who specialize in the treatment of children become board-certified specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy.

The psychiatrist or specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy takes the following aspects into account when diagnosing and treating mental disorders:

• Somatic aspects
• Psychosomatic aspects
• Social aspects

Specialists in psychiatry (and psychotherapeutic medicine) treat anxiety, depression, burnout, psychosomatic symptoms, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and much more. @ okrasiuk /AdobeStock

The list of mental health conditions treated by a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy is long.

These include, for example, the following disorders and illnesses:

• Alcohol dependence (alcoholism) and other harmful addictive behaviors
• Anxiety disorder: generalized anxiety or fear of specific objects or situations
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by impulsivity and instability in interpersonal relationships and self-image
• Eating disorders: bulimia (binge-purge disorder), anorexia, binge-eating disorder, and compulsive overeating
• Burnout syndrome: a state of emotional exhaustion
• Chronic headaches
• Depression manifests as negative moods as well as a loss of joy, motivation, etc.
• Psychotraumatology deals with the psychological consequences of trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, which is preceded by severely distressing events
• Psychosis is a severe disorder characterized by a loss of touch with reality. This includes schizophrenia, which can manifest as disturbances in perception and thought (such as delusions)
• Somatoform disorders are conditions that cannot be explained by an organic cause, such as somatoform pain disorder
• Stress-related disorders
• Suicidal behavior
• In obsessive-compulsive disorder (formerly known as obsessive-compulsive neurosis or anankastic neurosis), the patient experiences an urge to perform certain actions or have certain thoughts

Psychiatry deals with the medical treatment of alcohol dependence @ Pormezz /AdobeStock

Treatment for a mental disorder is provided by a board-certified specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy in private practice or at a clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy.

There is no single therapy for treating mental illnesses. While there may be scientific recommendations for certain therapeutic approaches,

The decision about which therapy is best suited for which patient depends on the specific situation.

In addition to medication, the following techniques are used:

An essential component of talk therapy—also known as conversational psychotherapy, client-centered, or person-centered psychotherapy—is conversation. Talk therapy is used for many mental disorders, either on its own or in combination with other approaches. 

In talk therapy, the patient is encouraged to recognize and resolve situations and circumstances that hinder self-actualization. 

They can process traumatic experiences and thereby gain new insights. This allows them to reevaluate what they have experienced.

Behavioral therapy is based on scientific findings, with learning theory playing a particularly important role. Behavioral therapy uses specific techniques to influence behavioral and mental disorders. These techniques include counterconditioning/confrontation, operant conditioning, and the cognitive approach.

In art therapy, patients learn to express their inner state through paintings, photographs, or sculptures. They also learn to perceive their environment and their feelings through their senses.

Art therapy is one of the psychodynamic forms of therapy @ nagaets /AdobeStock

Sports therapy focuses on improving one’s body awareness and overcoming psychological impairments.

In light therapy, patients are exposed to artificial light at specific times. It is used in psychiatry primarily to treat depression.