Institute for Medical Psychology

Welcome to the homepage of the Institute of Medical Psychology at the Centre for Psychosocial Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital!

Please send enquiries about PPiA positions to Dr Simone Jennissen. Enquiries sent directly to the head of the Institute will not be processed.

Enquiries about internships, courses (seminars, courses, lectures, etc.) should be addressed to the Student Administration Office; enquiries sent directly to the head of the institute will not be processed.

All other enquiries should be sent to the central e-mail address of the secretariat.

News from our institute can be found here

Our research and therapy focus at the Institute is the influence of social relationships on health.

Our research focuses on social interaction behaviour (including couple interaction) and the effects of social behaviour on stress-sensitive and hormonal health parameters (such as stress hormones, cardiovascular parameters or wound healing) and personal well-being. We are investigating these relationships in experiments and in the everyday lives of the study participants.

The therapeutic programme focuses on the treatment of mental disorders and the psychotherapeutic treatment of physical illnesses, taking into account the patient's immediate social environment (partner, family). We work with a wide range of psychotherapeutic methods (including cognitive behavioural therapy, depth psychological therapy, systemic family therapy, music therapy) and evaluate our therapies scientifically.

The content of this research is also incorporated into our teaching: on the one hand, students can participate in current projects themselves, and on the other hand, we discuss the results of the studies in our courses with reference to medicine and psychology.

The Medical Organisational Psychology working group offers the following consulting services for medical, nursing, administrative and scientific staff at the University Hospital and its subsidiaries.