Clinical Psychology

The Clinical Psychology is a sub-discipline of applied psychology and deals with the developmental, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social foundations of mental disorders and the effects these have on behavior. Clinical psychology also includes neuropsychology and medical psychology.

What is clinical psychology?

If internal or external disturbances affect people, systems or groups, clinical psychology uses scientific methods to investigate the effects on behavior and experience.

If internal or external disturbances affect people, systems or groups, clinical psychology uses scientific methods to investigate the effects on behavior and experience. The relationships are described in the form of predictions and diagnoses, with research, evaluation and practical procedures forming a unit. The training and further professional activity follow the so-called scientist-practitioner model.

Clinical psychology is very broadly defined and deals not only with mental disorders but also with a wide variety of systems and methods for diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention. However, the discipline primarily conducts basic research and searches for the cause of disturbed functional areas as part of research.

From the results it is possible to develop methods that bring about a change. For example, psychological conversations, behavioral analyzes and psychodiagnostics are used as part of clinical-psychological treatment. The duration or the type of treatment depends on the individual situation and the intensity of the symptoms.

Treatments & therapies

The field of activity of a clinical psychologist includes clinical-psychological diagnostics with regard to behavioral disorders, performance and psychological changes as well as psychological treatment methods that are based on knowledge of personality and developmental psychology, learning theory and social psychology. The psychological treatment should always be included in a previous definition of the problem or in a subsequent evaluation. The course of a treatment looks like this:

• Definition or description of the problem

• Indication and treatment decision

• Treatment planning

• Evaluation of the result and the treatment process

The intervention includes working with those affected, but also changing institutional and social conditions. Since mental disorders are usually very complex, a large number of different types of intervention are often required. Combined standardized treatment programs such as behavioral therapy programs for conflict, stress and anxiety management, the integrated psychological therapy program for schizophrenic patients or neuropsychological training programs that are used, for example, for brain disorders, have proven themselves here. The interventions can be assigned to different areas. These include:

• Cognition (problem-solving strategies, perception, ability to concentrate, ability to orientate)

• Psychophysiology (pain treatment, biofeedback, body awareness, relaxation, neuromuscular re-education)

• Social behavior (social perception, strengthening self-control mechanisms, behavioral training, self-confidence training, communication training)

• Disease coping (relapse prevention, disease management, compliance promotion, psychoeducation)

• Disorder-specific treatment (personality development, conflict and stress management, affect and aggression control, suicide prophylaxis)

The clinical-psychological treatment is based on six characteristic features:

• Choice of means: These include, for example, conversation, interpersonal relationships and exercise.

• Treatment functions: Important functions for clinical-psychological treatment are prevention, health promotion, rehabilitation and therapy.

• Goal orientation: In order to be able to choose the right method for clinical-psychological treatment, a concrete goal formulation is necessary. It forms the basis for the development of goal-oriented interventions.

• Theoretical foundation: The treatment must meet criteria with regard to empirical research, empirical findings, theories and hypotheses.

• Evaluation: It is possible to check empirically whether a treatment is effective.

• Professional action: The interventions are carried out by experts, with the therapist and client actively exchanging ideas. Resource orientation in the course of treatment is also particularly important.

The offer is aimed at individuals, families or couples who suffer from psychiatric illnesses, mental impairments or chronic or acute stress reactions. This includes:

• Mental impairments that can be traced back to somatic diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, multiple sclerosis or cancer.

• Acute crises or difficult situations such as separation, death, disasters or violence

• Anxiety that is situational, such as before chemotherapy or surgery

• Psychosomatic complaints

• Mental illnesses such as depression, ADHD, autism or obsessive-compulsive problems

• Impairments of attention and memory as in dementia or Alzheimer's

• School problems or developmental disorders

• Sexual problems arising from a mental or physical illness.

• Addictions to drugs, alcohol, or nicotine

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Diagnosis & examination methods

As part of the diagnosis, the presence or degree of expression of various psychological characteristics should be examined. The following test procedures are available for this:

• Performance tests (including aptitude tests, school tests, general performance tests, intelligence tests, development tests)

• Psychometric personality tests (this includes personality structure tests, attitude and interest tests, clinical tests)

• Personality development process (this includes drawing and design processes, verbal-thematic processes)

In addition, a number of computer-aided diagnostic procedures are used, including the Hogrefe test system or the Wiener test system. If stressful situations have to be coped with, one speaks of crisis intervention. Since crises run in phases, special interventions are used in the individual phases, so that those affected can reorient themselves.

As part of a clinical-psychological counseling, the therapist imparts specialist knowledge for certain disorders or ways in which these can be changed. In contrast to clinical-psychological treatment, counseling is a solution-oriented and short-term intervention. Decision-making aids and information are made available to the clients and the issue is worked out. This can initiate a change in behavior, but the affected person is not accompanied over a longer period of time.