Besonderheiten
Therapy in English
Dear English speaking patient,
I am not a native English speaker but as I lived in the US for several months and worked several years for an American automobile supplier, I can offer psychotherapy in English as well.
I am a child and youth psychotherapist – so I am allowed to treat patients who are no older than 21. I have first completed a degree in education at the university of applied sciences in Mainz and afterwards completed a five-year state regulated training in psychotherapy and am thus licensed to practice (Approbation).
It is also possible to treat adults – it depends on their insurance. For self paying patients there is no problem at all to treat adults.
Psychotherapy is
- recommended when a person is suffering from complaints that have emotional or mental origins
- a professionally structured conversation and a therapeutically structured relationship between the psychotherapist and the patient
- practical exercises
- is intended to relieve and heal mental illness
- is a scientifically evaluated treatment method that has been proven to be effective
- should be carried out only by psychotherapists who have successfully completed a state-regulated course of training and are thus licensed to practice (Approbation) which I am
Psychodynamic psychotherapy (Tiefenpsychologisch fundierte Psychotherapie)
My psychotherapeutic method is the psychodynamic therapy. This method is scientifically recognised and is carried by private health insurance companies.
Like analytical psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy assumes that our life is not only shaped by our will, but rather that everything that we feel, think and decide also depends on unconscious psychic influences. These factors, wich we are not aware of and cannot influence, include, in particular, inner conflicts which determine our later lives, especialley if they were already present in our early years. Even a child experiences the normal human conflict between the wish to be independant and self-sufficient on the one hand, and protected and cared for on the other. Sometimes a child cannot solve a conflict of this sort because he or she is afraid of losing his or her mother or father. The intolerable conflict is then suppressed and forced into the unconscious in order for the child to protect him or herself from it. From here, however, the conflict continues to influence our feelings and thoughts and, above all, our relationships to other people. In a later life phase, when, for instance, we experience a painful separation, these early unconscious conflicts can once again influence our feelings and behaviour and even make us mentally ill. A further cause of mental illnesses is also seen by the psychodynamic form of psychotherapy to be, for example, severe neglect, experiences of violence, or emotional coldness during the first years of life. Under such unfavourable life conditions, people develop no or only limited abilities to form an image of themselves and of others with all their positive and negative qualities, to live in stable relationships, to control their own behaviour or to empathise with other people.
Unconscious conflicts also determine the relationship to the psychotherapist. Psychtherapists who work psychodynamically help their patients to uncover the unconscious factors behind their mental complaints. At the same time, they support them in better solving their conflicts, thus enabling them to lead a healthier and less burdensome life. The dialogues demand a high level of openness and trust in the psychotherapist. Psychodynamic psychotherapy takes place in one-on-one conversations, generally once or twice a week. This means of treatment can include creative therapy methods (art, music or body therapy). A course of therapy can take between three months and two years.
Some psychological symptoms which can be treated by psychotherapy
- Mood disorders (minor up to major depressive disorder, includes normal grief)
- Anxiety disorders (genereal anxiety, panic, seperation...)
- Adaptive disorder (after parents separation or divorce, move to an other country or city...)
- Attention deficit disorder
- Eating disorder (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating)
- First time drug users
- Self harm syndrom
- Sleep disorder
- Behavioral addictions
- School problems (mobbing, school refusers)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (with EMDR)
- Personality disorder (borderline, narcissistic, impulse-control....)
- Somatoform disorder
- Psychotic disorder (in addition to medication)
- Dissociative disorder
Get started
You or your child can turn to a psychotherapist directly. You do not need a referral from a general practitioner or specialist.
I agree with you on an initial appointment for an interview, during which I will spend 50 minutes time with you. Fee please find under ”Kostenerstattung“. My psychotherapeutic method is the psychodynamic therapy.
Initial interviews are for the purpose of getting to know each other and finding out, whether you have a complaint theat needs psychological treatment. I will ask you what mental problems you or your child are suffering from, how long you have been suffering from them, how they make you feel in your everyday life, and what you have done so far in order to cope better.
The most important thing about these initial interviews is that you or your child also get an impression as to whether you can speak openly and confidently with me. You or your child should also be able to talk to me about subjects that may be embarrassing or painful to you or that make you anxious.
In order for psychotherapy to be successful, it is very important that you can confide in me. You have between five and eight sessions for these initial interviews – after this you can decide if you want to start with the therapy. These first meetings are called ”probationary sessions“. Your private health insureance covers the costs of these sessions in general.
After the first sessions I will ask you expressly if you agree to the treatment. I will then suggest a specific treatment to you, explain alternatives and agreee on the goals of the treatment with you.
Health insurance application
In order to be treatet, you must submit an application to your health insurance if you are not a self-paying patient. The insurance has to aprove the application before you can begin the treatment – this may take 4-6 weeks. You can get the application form from me. You will need to sign the form. For children both parents need to sign if they have joint custody.
The diagnosis
It is a precondition of psychotherapy that you have a diagnosis of a mental illness. Psychotherapists make a diagnosis according to the iCD-10 list – for example F32, ”depressive episode“. I can explan the diagnosis to you in terms that you can understand.
Treatment
Psychotherapy does not work overnight. You or your child should therefore prepare yourself for a period of treatment lasting several months, during which you will have at least one session of 50 minutes a week with me.
Reimbursement of costs (Kostenerstattung)
There are not enough psychotherapists who have been licensed by an association of statutory health insurance physicians (Kassenzulassung). Because of this, patients often have to wait for months, sometimes even longer, for treatment. However, if you can prove with documentations that you have contacted several psychotherapists and are in urgent need of treatment, then the statutory health insurance must reimburse the cots of treatment by psychotherapists who have not yet been approved by an association of satuatory health insurance physicians. These psychotherapists are licensed by the state to practice, but do not have the accreditation of a satutory health insurance physicians association. These psychotherapists work in a private practice. They will write you a bill, which you can then submit to your health insurance. However, you should get your health insurances´s approval in writing for this kind of billing in the form of reimbursement of costs before hand. I can help you with the form. In this case I need to bill you the first session in private
Private health insurance
The services provided by the private health insurance are not uniformly regulated. What is decisive is what the person insured and their insurer have agreed on in their contract. Some private insurances refuse to provide insurance cover for mentally ill people or limit their cover in the case of mental illness. Like the statutory health insurance compaies, the private insurance comapines usually only reimburese the cost of treatment methods that have been scientifically approved. (which I am)
Self-paying patient
If you pay for the psycotherapy yourself, then you will mainly be treated in the same way as if you were insured privately. The costs of treatment are decided by the psychotherapists scale of charges and fees. Before beginning treatment, you should come to a clear and ideally written agreement about the kind of treatment you want to receive, how long the treatment should be, and how much it will cost.
Still hesitating?
So if you or your child suffers from any of these psychic problems and if you think about starting a psychotherapy but are not quite sure if this is the best help for you, do not hesitate to call or email me and schedule an appointment for a first meeting.
Sincerely,
Miriam Hoff
Psychotherapist
Information taken from „Paths to Psychotherapy“ from the
Bundespsychotherapeutenkammer
