Self-test: Is the "Psychotherapist (Certified)" course the right one for me?

What does the day-to-day work of a psychotherapist look like?

Psychotherapists treat people with mental health problems.

Depending on the therapy method, they explore their history with their clients in order to understand the origins of the current symptoms and find ways to change them, or they deal with the current situation and the stressful or disruptive symptoms and explore which behaviors, reactions, thoughts, beliefs and convictions are related to them and offer approaches for gentle, helpful change.

The most important basis for psychotherapeutic treatment is establishing a relationship of trust with the client and offering a safe and supportive framework within the therapy. Depending on the method, the actual therapeutic work is carried out using, for example, special conversation techniques, mindfulness exercises, body awareness, role-playing, imagination techniques and dream analysis. The aim is always to enable those affected to understand their current symptoms and possible backgrounds, to gently recall and process stressful and painful experiences, to find solutions to current conflicts and pressing complaints and to develop new behaviors and attitudes. The aim is to improve mental stability and resilience.

In addition to the actual therapy sessions, psychotherapists are also involved in administrative tasks. They write applications to health insurance companies, prepare expert reports, keep the appointment calendar and case histories. An important part of their working time is also taken up by specialist discussions with colleagues and supervision sessions, as well as keeping up to date with current developments in psychological and psychotherapeutic research and in their own specialist field.

Who is the "Psychotherapist (certified)" course suitable for?

Target group:

• Psychologists who are interested in psychopathology and would like to work psychotherapeutically with people
• Doctors who are interested in psychology and psychopathology and would like to work with people psychotherapeutically

Necessary personal qualities:

• Interest in psychopathology and in supporting and treating people psychologically
• Mental resilience and ability to reflect
• High social and relationship skills
• Resilience and a sense of responsibility
• Very good written and spoken German
• Depending on the position, very good knowledge of certain foreign languages is required.
• You must also be convinced that you want to work intensively with people with mental health problems.

Further education institutions often carry out an aptitude test.

Requirements for admission

You can complete continuing education, further training in psychotherapy if you have one of the following qualifications:

• Master's degree in psychology, including sufficient performance in clinical psychology and psychopathology
• State examination or Master's degree in human medicine

Most training providers clarify personal suitability for psychotherapeutic work in an admission procedure.

Learning material / learning content - skills taught

Learning content:
The exact learning content depends on the chosen therapy direction and varies. As a rule, they include

• Psychology, anthropology and sociology
• Personality theory and development theory
• Psychopathology, disorders
• Treatment techniques and diagnostics as well as method-specific basics such as behavioral therapy, systemic therapy, client-centered conversation and body psychotherapy
• Conducting discussions and the course of the meeting
• Professional ethics
• Self-awareness

Skills taught:
Successful graduates are able to work as independent psychotherapists. They can diagnose a wide range of mental disorders and carry out psychotherapy with individuals. They have acquired the knowledge, skills and abilities to do so and are also aware of the effectiveness, possibilities and limitations of their therapy method.

Costs

You can expect to pay around CHF 44,000-50,000 for continuing education, further training to become a psychotherapist; depending on the method and training provider, just under or just over half of this is accounted for by the course fees, the rest by self-awareness units and supervision.

The course fees are generally payable per module or per semester.

Duration, training components and handling of continuing education, further training

Continuing education, further training in psychotherapy can only be completed at an institute whose continuing education, further training program has been accredited by the federal government.

The continuing education, further training is part-time and takes 4-6 years plus 2 years of clinical work during or after the training.

The continuing education, further training consists of four parts: Theory, self-awareness, practice and supervision and takes the form of lessons (often in block seminars), individual self-awareness sessions, supervision sessions, group work, self-study and term papers.

The exact amount of time required depends on previous training, the chosen therapy method and the training model, but amounts to several hours per week including self-study time.

To complete federally accredited continuing education, further training in phychotherapy, the following minimum requirements must be met:

• 500 teaching units*
• 150 units of self-awareness, including at least 50 units in an individual setting
• 150 units of supervision, of which at least 50 units are individual supervision
• 500 units of own psychotherapeutic work under supervision. These are collected in at least 2 years of full-time work in a psychosocial care facility, of which at least 1 year in an outpatient or inpatient psychotherapeutic-psychiatric care facility)
• 10 completed psychotherapeutically treated, supervised, evaluated and documented cases.

* usually 45 minutes

Conclusion

Continuing education, further training to become a psychotherapist is both academically oriented and practice-oriented. In addition to studying, the learning outcomes include writing term papers and seminar papers, passing theoretical examinations as well as practical work under supervision and documenting case reports.

Psychotherapy courses must comply with the requirements of the Psychology Professions Act (PsyG) and be accredited by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Successful graduates are entitled to register as

Psychotherapist

and, if applicable, to use one of the professional titles of the ASP / FSP / SBAP professional associations.

According to the Psychology Profession Act (PsyG), psychotherapists are obliged to undergo regular further training.