Welcome!

   Here you’ll find some information about various topics and methods I am working with, as well as some links to other sources
Disclaimer: No liability accepted for contents of linked websites!

Autogenic Training

Autogenic Training (AT), developed by the German J.H. Schultz in the early 20th century, is a relaxation technique based upon passive concentration and awareness of body sensations. Through repetition of so-called autogenic „formulas“ one focuses upon different sensations, such as heaviness or warmth, in different regions of the body. AT is particularly appealing to the Western mind, because unlike many forms of meditation and yoga it has no cultural, religious or cosmological overtones, and requires no special clothing or unusual postures or practices Unlike most other relaxation techniques, it can be practiced anywhere, anytime – while travelling by train or plane, for example, in the doctor’s waiting room, or even in the office or your working place.
Many of the controlled medical trials on AT have established that it can be of great benefit to many of the commonly acknowledged stress-related diseases, such as phobias, anxiety, high blood-pressure, migraines, insomnia, muscle tension, hyperventilation and pain. AT has been also found to be very helpful in developing creativity, and improving concentration and co-ordination, and for improving the body’s capacity to cope with jet-lag and other forms of physical and mental exhaustion and fatigue.

Burn-out

See Power Pack, Autogenic Training and Intensive-Interval-Therapy

Coaching

See Power Pack and Intensive-Interval-Therapy

Dental phobia

In general, a visit to the dentist isn’t exactly something to look forward to, and the prospect of certain treatments can be a little scaring. But if you feel sick, tremble and sweat even before you open your mouth, or if you’ve been postponing neccessary checkups or treatments for years… we ought to change that!
Causes are manifold, and so are the cures.
Sometimes, simple relaxation exercises will do already, sometimes desensitization is needed, and sometimes there is an old trauma.
We thus have to briefly examine your previous experiences, in order to design a treatment plan that best fits your needs.
See also Autogenic Training, EMDR, Palmtherapy, Trauma

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies in structured protocols that are designed to maximize treatment effects. These include psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies. EMDR is an information processing therapy and uses an eight phase approach. See http://www.emdr.com

Flight phobia

Flight phobia not only reduces the quality of life if certain holiday destinations are out of the question, it can also interfere with professional advancement if business trips involve air travel..
Group seminars are offered at almost all airports. They have the advantage that nobody has to feel alone with the problem. Single sessions, however, are more confidential and more flexible in terms of time and methods as well, and they can be a sensible addition for the group seminars, too.
Since fear of flying can have different causes, we first have to briefly discuss your previous experiences – in order to be able to choose the optimal treatment for you. There are very efficient methods using different approaches so that we can find and use what suits you best.

Goal

It makes sense to clarify the goals of therapy or counselling right at the start. What do you want to achieve? How can I be of assistance? You can regard me as a guide or pilot who needs to know where you want to go. Defining a goal before we start allows us to check later on how much closer you got to that goal, whether we are still in line or whether the goal has changed. Moreover, if you know your goal, the way makes sense – else it could happen that we might have pleasant or interesting conversations, but run in circles. That would be a pity for time and money, right?

Humour

The proverbial spoonful of sugar that helps to swallow medicine. By no means to be confused with „not taking things seriously“!

Intensive-Interval Therapy

This approach is suitable if you

• have to travel relatively far and thus cannot have weekly sessions,
• want to focus on a specific issue, or
• want to work on an acute problem.

We work in „blocks“ of one, two or three half-days rather intensively in a structured way. After such a unit, you will have insights to put into practice. We will meet again four to six weeks afterwards to evaluate and stabilize your progress and proceed with another block, according to the necessities.

Languages

Swiss residents:
If you are looking for a therapist speaking other languages aside from those I can offer, you can use the database of the Federation of Swiss Psychologists; unfortuantely it doesn’t exist in English. Go to http://www.psychologie.ch/, click on „Sprachen“ and choose.  (If it doesn’t work, just send me an email, and I’ll help you).
German residents:
The page https://www.therapie.de/therapeutensuche/ provides an excellent database.  Type your place into the empty box on the left sidebar , and clicking on „Sprache – weitere“ opens the list of available languages. Choose yours, and see who can help you in your own language.

Marriage counselling

No matter whether you already agree on having marriage counselling or (presently) only one of you – before we have joint sessions I like to see both spouses separately. This way, each one has the opportunity to explain his/her own view without having to take into consideration whether the other „approves“ and censor accordingly. Content of these private sessions remains confidential. Thus it doesn’t make a difference who is first, as I don’t use information from the first session. Each one has a new start.
The way we proceed with our weekly joint sessions will be determined by what you would like to learn, achieve and improve (see Goal and also Intensive-Interval Therapy as an alternative to weekly sessions)

Pain

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defiones pain as: „An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.“
To use a metaphor, pain (as well as other symptoms) is like a watchdog that’s barking.The barking – which isn’t supposed to be pleasant after all – means something like: „You better go and check, something is wrong!“
Is it a lesion, an inflammation, or an emotional pain that manifests itself as a physical sensation?
As soon as the cause is found and taken care of, all is quiet again. The symptom/pain disppears after having fulfilled its alarm function.
However, just like a watchdog that cannot tell us why it is barking, it’s sometimes difficult to find out what exactly causes the pain. More often than not, the possibility of stressful or traumatic events is completely ignored. In that case, painkillers or even surgery might be applied, but are useless. The dog only barks louder – especially if an operation creates a new lesion. (Note: Such emotionally-related pain is not at all „just imagined“, let alone „faked“!)
It makes sense to have a comprehensive understanding of a person’s suffering, and therefore I like to cooperate with physicians. Even physical pain due to cancer or amputation can still be alleviated by psychological means, improving quality of life and wellbeing.

Palmtherapy

Palmtherapy was invented by Moshe Zwang in 1985. It is a method for rapidly relieving emotional suffering and for accelerating human potential through the hand/brain/mind connection, reaching the brain through the (touch and nontouch) stimulation of various areas and lines on the palms of the hands which are related to brain/mind activity and the personality.
The effect of Palmtherapy on the mind includes rapid release from anxiety, traumatic memories, severe fears, phobias, anger and grief. Palmtherapy helps to accelerate positive thoughts and behavior patterns, talents, self-esteem, motivation, mental clarity and willpower.

Power Pack

You might not feel ill or in need of a therapy, but nevertheless things in your life might not run as smoothly as they should. The batteries are down, a crisis is on its way, decisions have to be made or changes are imminent.
This „psychological wellness program“ can be very useful to build and strengthen resources and well-being, for coaching and encouragement and last not least to prevent burn-out.
After a brief assessment of your needs you’ll get a custom-tailored program of four or five units which also contains „tools“ for you to use in everyday life.
Your personal „power pack“ can be spread over a week, with one daily session, or one or two (half) days.
See also Intensive-Interval Therapy.

Stories

The oldest method to teach and to heal, and whenever appropriate, I do like to tell stories! For a taste click here.

Trauma

A Greek word that means something like „hurt, wound, violent impact“, used in medical as well as psychological contexts. Unpleasant events are unavoidable in life. Trauma, however, is much more, as it meets the following criteria:

• An exceptional event that usually cannot be expected
• Life or physical integrity are in danger, either one’s own or of someone nearby
• The event elicits intensive feelings fear and helplessness.

Acute reactions can be sleeping disorders, irritability or flashbacks as well as careful avoidance of any reminders of the incident. During the first four to six weeks, these symptoms can be regarded as a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. You should not wait until things will be okay again by themselves!
Traumatizing experiences from long ago can still be haunting, but there are good and efficient methods for treatment. Depending on the history and clinical picture, I like to work with Palmtherapy or EMDR. However, therapy has to be custom-tailored to fit the needs of the individual.
What happened cannot be undone. But we can transform the emotional „reliving“ into a plain „remembering“, to be archived in the shelves of memory.

Wellness

See Power Pack