Training series "PAARweise"

"PAARweise" - advanced training seminars for couples therapy and counselling - new programme 2025 - register now
The Institute of Medical Psychology at Heidelberg University offers a modular training series for couples therapy and counselling. This series is aimed at all professional groups working in therapy and counselling who would like to receive further training on individual couple therapy topics from renowned experts.
All information and registration at: www.paarweise-paartherapie.de
Costs: The participation fee per seminar is EUR 320. A reduced rate of EUR 160 per seminar applies for psychologists and doctors in psychotherapeutic training or further training as well as students.
Seminar times:
Fridays: 14:00 - 19:00
Saturdays: 9:00 - 16:00
Seminars 2025: Flyer 2025
17 / 18 January 2025 | Mastering relationship crises as a couple: Basic knowledge and interventions for couples therapy Dr Angelika Eck, practice for couples therapy and sex therapy, Karlsruhe |
28 / 29 March 2025 | Mastering the transition from partnership to parenthood as a couple Prof. Dr Anna-Lena Zietlow, Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden |
09 / 10 May 2025 | Outside relationships and non-monogamy - dealing with the longing for strangers in a couple Prof. Dr Sonja Bröning, MSH - Medical School Hamburg |
11 / 12 July 2025 | Power and conflict in couple relationships - how to successfully deal with highly vulnerable couples Friederike von Tiedemann, Hans Jellouschek Institute (HJI) Freiburg-Hamburg |
25 / 26 July 2025 | Experiencing mindfulness and compassion as a couple Prof. Dr Corina Aguilar-Raab, University of Mannheim |
26 / 27 September 2025 | Coping with psychological stress during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period PAIRWISE Dr Susanne Ditz, Practice for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Heidelberg |
Job advertisements
Latest news
Television report 14.04.2024 | What friendship does to you: These friendships keep you healthy Terra Xplore (ZDF) is broadcasting a TV programme with the participation of Prof. Beate Ditzen. You can watch the report here on 14.04.2024 at 18:30. |
Conference 18.-19.03.2024 | Towards Genomic Newborn Screening in Germany: Risks, Opportunities, Challenges The BMBF-funded joint project NEW_LIVES: Genomic Newborn Screening Programs(https://gnbs.ukhd.de) is organising an international scientific conference "Towards Genomic Newborn Screening in Germany: Risks, Opportunities, Challenges" on 18 and 19 March 2024 at Heidelberg University. The conference will bring together international experts from the fields of ethics, medicine, psychology and law as well as representatives of patient organisations to discuss the opportunities and challenges of introducing genomic newborn screening in Germany. The presentations will address questions relating to the selection of target diseases, the family information and consent process and the associated ethical aspects. The conference programme can be found below. We would like to thank the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for their generous support. The lectures will be broadcast online for listening. If you are interested in participating digitally, please register in advance by email: LukasSimeon.Kiefer(at)med.uni-heidelberg.de |
Interview with Prof Beate Ditzen November 2023 | ZEIT AKADEMIE online course: "Social relationships - because WE are stronger together" You can view the full article here |
New counselling service November 2023 | Telephone counselling for mothers and fathers after stressful birth experiences(Bela counselling) 06221- 56 34438
Tue 13:30 - 15:00h Wed 11:00 - 13:00h |
Radio feature 02.11.2023 | With pseudo-therapies and esoteric rituals to the desired child? -Deutschlandfunk Kultur with, among others, Prof Dr T. Wischmann |
Mental Health Week 10.-19.10.2023 | The Heidelberg Centre for Psychosocial Medicine(ZPM) is offering numerous events to mark Mental Health Week under the motto "Taking the weight off anxiety". We cordially invite you to the events! Further information can be found here. |
DGMP Awards 2023 22.09.2023 | As part of the joint congress of the German Society for Medical Psychology (DGMP) and the German Society for Medical Sociology (DGMS), the DGMP awards ceremony took place on 22 September 2023. Ekaterina Schneider received the Sabine-Grüsser-Sinopoli Prize for her submission entitled "Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study". Carlotta Julia Mayer and Dr Katja Schmalenberger received the Tandem Prize for their submission entitled "Intraindividual variations in patients' heart rate variability in differently digitised doctor-patient conversations". Congratulations to her! |
WiSe 2023/24: Lecture series "Psychological aspects in gynaecology, obstetrics and peripartum period" | The Gynaecological and Peripartum Psychology working group is pleased to invite you to the lecture series "Psychische Aspekte in Gynäkologie, Geburtshilfe und Peripartalzeit" from September 2023. The event will take place in hybrid format - the access data for the respective events will be published in advance on the AG GynPeP homepage. Further information on the lecture series can be found here. |
Project presentation of the VERIKOM-project at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2023 30.06.2023 | On 30.06.2023, the closing event of the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting organised by the state of Baden-Württemberg took place in Lindau. Our research team from the VERIKOM project was invited to present the project and the initial findings there. You can find more information here. |
Berlin Health Prize 2023 21.06.2023 | The nationwide cooperation network for cross-SGB care for families affected by mental illness and addiction received the special prize at this year's 13th Berlin Health Award. The award, under the motto "Shaping health fairly", honoured the network, which is committed to helping children of parents with mental, addictive and/or chronic illnesses grow up in a healthy environment. The network focusses on interdisciplinary cooperation between help and care systems for affected children across the boundaries of the social security codes. Sabine Walper and our Institute Director Beate Ditzen co-initiated this project as spokespersons and on behalf of the Family Psychology Interest Group of the German Psychological Society (DGPs) alongside other co-operation partners. Further information on the award ceremony and the project can be found at |
Relatives' café 25 November 2022 | We cordially invite you to a café for relatives of people with a serious, life-shortening illness. With the café, we want to open up a non-binding, open exchange between people in a similar situation. You can find more information on our flyer. Time: from 15:30, location: Room 007, led by: Dora Hopf, Corina Aguilar-Raab, Monika Eckstein. |
Lecture series 09 November 2022 | As part of the 23rd Heidelberg Pain Therapy Forum, four speakers (including Prof Beate Ditzen) will present important aspects of menstrual cramps in interdisciplinary, practical short lectures. Time: from 5 pm, location: Im Neuenheimer Feld 420, 69120 Heidelberg. Further information on the event can be found on the flyer 23rd Heidelberg Pain Therapy Forum - Menstrual Problems |
Advanced training 23 August 2022 | Dr Susanne Fischer will speak on the topic "'Stress is harmful' - A self-fulfilling prophecy? Health consequences of negative stress assumptions" Time: 11:00-12:30, Location: Room 007 (ground floor), registration not required, free admission, 2 CME points |
Activities in the past
Lecture series 13 - 17 October 2021 | The Aktionsbündnis Seelische Gesundheit invites you to the lecture series"Gemeinsam über den Berg - seelische Gesundheit in der Familie". You can find more information in our flyer |
Lecture 16 January 2020 | Prof Dr Boris Quednow (Psychiatric Clinic Zurich) will give a lecture on the topic "Pharmacological neuroenhancement". Time: 16:00-17:30. Registration not required, admission free. |
Further training 10 December 2019 | Prof. Dr Brigitte Leeners will give a lecture on "Sexuality in gynaecology: new findings on specific disorders" Time: 11:00-12:30. Registration not required, free admission, 2 CME points |
Advanced training 12 November 2019 | Sabine Rittner and Christine Gäbel will present their project on "Music therapy and depression" as part of the practice-orientated training series. Time: |
Hike to Strahlenburg Castle 19 September 2019 | Our company outing in September 2019 took our team along a beautiful vineyard route from the institute to Strahlenburg Castle in Schriesheim. The excursion was a complete success in beautiful weather. |
Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Prize for Young Scientists at Heidelberg University 08 October 2018 | We are delighted that one of this year's "Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Prizes for Young Scientists at Heidelberg University"(https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/einrichtungen/iwh/hengstberger/) has been awarded to a team from our institute. Together with our cooperation partner Martin F. Gerchen from the Department of Clinical Psychology at the Central Institute Mannheim(https://www.zi-mannheim.de/forschung/abteilungen-ags-institute/klinpsych.html), Anna-Lena Zietlow and Monika Eckstein from the Institute of Medical Psychology have been awarded the prize to organise an international Hengstberg Symposium "Social Interaction: Neurobiological Reward Systems and their Role in Mental Health" next year. |
Visit to the Cezanne exhibition 30 January 2018 | The first company outing of 2018 took some of us to the Cezanne exhibition at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Since the expert private tour by Dr Schmitt-Wischmann, we know that the painting shown was not painted by Cezanne. |
Writing retreat 1-2 December 2017
| At the writing retreat, the project team for the wound healing study met in Bad Kreuznach in the run-up to Christmas to analyse, write, discuss, cook and eat together. Everyone made good progress, got full and had a great time. |
Adjunct professorship
| On 12 September 2017, Tewes Wischmann hosted a lunchtime reception to mark the award of his APL professorship. We are very proud to now have another professor in our midst! |
NCT run 7 July 2017 | Team MedPsych at the NCT charity run Compared to the previous year, we were able to increase our number of participants (7 people) and the distance (11km quarter marathon) at this year's NCT run, which we were very pleased about and enjoyed. |
Working group visit 22 June 2017 | A visit to the working group led by Prof Urs Nater in Marburg On 22 June, our (almost) entire working group travelled to Marburg to visit the Clinical Biopsychology working group at the Institute of Psychology. The programme included a guided tour of the biochemical laboratory and two exciting lectures on intercultural research and music therapy. A thunderstorm briefly jeopardised our tour of the city, so we were able to enjoy (iced) coffee and cake afterwards. The already very successful collaboration between the two working groups is set to continue in the future. We are looking forward to it! |
Marsilius Symposium 7 April 2017
| Surrogacy - current developments and interdisciplinary challenges Scientists presented current developments and discussed challenges from an interdisciplinary perspective An interdisciplinary symposium hosted by the Marsilius Kolleg at Heidelberg University on 7 April 2017 dealt with various aspects of surrogacy. Experts from Germany and abroad discussed the principles and effects of this practice, which is not only prohibited in Germany, in which another woman gives birth to a child instead of the genetic mother. The topic of surrogacy was examined from a psychological, medical, legal, ethical, historical and personal perspective. The event was organised jointly with the Institute for Foreign and International Private and Commercial Law. In total, more than 120 participants from all over Germany took part. The individual contributions will be published in a conference volume. |
Lecture on Fasnacht 28 February 2017
| Carnival, stress and social behaviour On Shrove Tuesday, we had Dr Bernadette von Dawans from the University of Freiburg as a guest in our internal training series, with an exciting lecture on stress and social behaviour. In keeping with the date and occasion, everyone was dressed up and even equipped with a saliva collection instrument. |
Filming 3-4 February 2017 | Filming of educational videos A series of educational films on doctor-patient interactions were shot at the Institute of Medical Psychology. The topics covered ranged from patient information situations in reproductive medicine to family discussions about adjustment disorders in adolescents and educational discussions in palliative care. Various medical directors, clinicians and psychologists from the university hospital were involved, who took on the role of the doctor in the doctor-patient discussions. These videos will later be made available to medical students on an online teaching platform in order to provide an insight into how doctors conduct conversations in a variety of situations. |
Television programme 5 November 2016 | Mona Lisa (ZDF) on "Private sperm donation" As the legal situation of family formation through sperm donation is still inadequately regulated in Germany, the introduction of a sperm donor register is currently being discussed. In this Mona Lisa article, Tewes Wischmann from our institute, among others, critically discusses what this project means for so-called private sperm donation and which gaps remain open. |
Congress of the DGMP and DGMS 28-30 September 2016 | Joint congress of the German Society for Medical Sociology and the German Society for Medical Psychology Our institute was represented at the joint annual conference of the DGMS and DGMP in Berlin at the end of September 2016, both in terms of personnel (see photo) and with 5 lectures and 6 posters, with many of our research fields prominently represented. Also very pleasing: Beate Ditzen was elected to the DGPM board as an assessor. All in all, a very successful congress in the late summer capital of Germany! |
NCT run 7 July 2016 | Team MedPsych at the NCT charity run Our institute was represented by a team of 6 at this year's charity run organised by the National Centre for Tumour Diseases. It was great fun to be part of it! |
Radio feature
| Radio feature "The first 'test-tube babies' are grown up" A radio feature about children after assisted reproduction and their development was broadcast on Deutschlandradio on 9 June 2016. How do they live with the knowledge of their conception? And what do scientists say about the risks? In addition to the now grown-up "test-tube babies" and their mothers, experts were also interviewed, including Tewes Wischmann from our institute. The programme is available at this link: http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/die-auserwaehlten-die-ersten-retortenbabys-sind-erwachsen.976.de.html?dram:article_id=356514. |
Lecture C. Sue Carter 25 May 2016 | Lecture by Prof Dr C. Sue Carter "The Healing Power of Love - An Oxytocin Hypothesis" Together with Prof. Dr. Valery Grinevich, we had the great pleasure and honour of inviting Prof. Sue Carter, Director of the Kinsey Institute in Indiana Bloomington, USA, to give a guest lecture at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Neurosciences (IZN) Heidelberg. |
Poster prize for Maren Schick and supervisor prize for Prof Beate Ditzen 4-7 May 2016
| Poster prize for Maren Schick, M.Sc. and supervisor prize for Prof Dr Beate Ditzen At the 34th Symposium of the Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of the German Society of Psychology (DGPs) from 4 - 7 May 2016, Maren Schick received the 2nd Poster Prize and was awarded for her poster presentation "Unfulfilled desire to have children in men" (pdf Poster). Congratulations to her! Prof. Dr Beate Ditzen was awarded the Supervisor Prize 2016 by the young scientists of the Clinical Psychology department for her great commitment and good supervision of the doctoral students, which makes her very happy! |
Open day and inaugural lecture 15 April 2016 | Open day and inaugural lecture by Prof Dr Beate Ditzen We were delighted to welcome many interested guests and visitors to the open day at our institute. We were able to successfully present the three basic areas of research, teaching and therapy, as well as our rooms from the historic lecture theatre to the research laboratory. The mini-experiments from our research, which were hands-on, as well as presentations on our teaching programme and our outpatient clinic were a great experience for our visitors - but also for us (programme). At the end of the day, the inaugural lecture on "Partnership and Health: Psychobiological Mechanisms and Research Perspectives" by Prof Dr Beate Ditzen took place in the Alte Aula of Heidelberg University. A full auditorium confirmed that this topic and the new director of the institute are meeting with broad interest (information). We would like to thank all visitors and helpers who contributed to the success of this day! |
Visit to the Clinical Biopsychology working group (headed by Prof Nater) in Heidelberg 22 March 2016 | Visit by the Clinical Biopsychology working group (headed by Prof Dr Urs M. Nater) from the University of Marburg to us in Heidelberg In order to maintain the close cooperation between the two working groups and to initiate future joint projects, we received a visit from Prof Nater and his working group from Marburg. Through short presentations, we were able to bring each other up to date on our projects and interests. The day ended with a tour of Heidelberg and dinner in a brewery. Many thanks for a wonderful day! |