Prof. Dr. Christiane Steinert

Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy,
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy Research

IPU Berlin
Alt-Moabit 91A, 2nd Floor, Room 2.13
10555 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 300 117-736
E-Mail: christiane.steinert@ipu-berlin.de

I like the quote by Goethe: “The highest goal that man can achieve is amazement.”

Amazement is probably a good motivator, especially in science. Amazement is pleasurable and can lead to wanting to question things more in depth and to wanting to understand them better.  And there is also an interesting connection to psychotherapy1: If philosophy and the search for knowledge begin with amazement, with the “loss of self-evidence”, with a shock, an irritation, then the psychotherapeutic search for knowledge also begins with a characteristic uncertainty: patients no longer understand themselves.

I hope that as a teacher in the areas of research methods and clinical psychology and psychotherapy, building on the teaching of foundations, I can inspire amazement for those aspects that are associated with psychological activities in clinical and research settings. In doing so, I would like to convey content vividly, to provide space for one’s own discovery, and to incite curiosity and doubts in order to enter into a stimulating exchange with the content conveyed. I am pleased when teaching then also stimulates intensive self-study and I am happy to point to further resources for this.
 

I teach in a variety of study programs:

  • In the Bachelor’s in Psychology, I work with students in the seminars on mental disorders on how these disorders develop and how we can recognize and diagnose them. Additionally, as part of the introductory lecture on approaches to psychology and psychotherapy, I introduce a bit of the history of psychotherapy research and the different cultures of the subject.
  • In the English Master’s in Psychology, my teaching focuses on current psychoanalytical models on disorders as well as on some research methods in psychotherapy research.
  • In the Master’s in Psychology, I teach in the areas of intervention and psychotherapy research. In the seminars on psychotherapeutic interventions, the focus is primarily on theories and the methods and techniques derived from these theories in various schools of thought. In doing so, I like to be guided by the question: “How do I tell my patient?”. In the seminar on research methods as well as in the research workshop, I would like to encourage the practical testing of research methods and the critical examination of current research results.
     

If all goes well, perhaps my teaching will lead to amazement for some at one point or another... That would be beautiful.

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1 I owe this thought to a text by Kai Rugenstein, K. (2015). Negative Therapeutik. Von der Tugend des Nicht-Wissens. Paragrana, 24: 128-138.

Research topics and research focuses within the scope of my work are:

  • Evidence-Based Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (e. g., within randomized controlled study designs)
  • Design and implementation of reviews and meta-analyses regarding clinical and therapeutic questions

  • Critical examinations of research results and methods

  • (Co-)development of therapist manuals and review of the implementation of therapist manuals (measuring adherence and competence)
  • Psychotherapy Process Research
  • Open-ended interviews and qualitative evaluations of patients and therapists in the context of trauma therapy
  • Diagnostic questions, among others, regarding work-related disorders

 

Selected current research projects:

  • Investigation of treatment integrity and mechanisms of action in the therapy study ENHANCE – post-traumatic stress disorder in adults associated with violence and abuse in the childhood: improving understanding and treatment, funded by the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research)
  • Psycho-dynamic short-term therapy of obsessive-compulsive disorder (in cooperation with the Sigmund-Freud-Institute Frankfurt and the Medical Center of the University Göttingen), funded by the DGPT (the German Council for psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, psychosomatics, depth-psychology)
  • Patient survey of their experience with psychotherapy in a randomized controlled trial of complex PTSD (ENHANCE) “Patient Participation”: Improving efficacy and identifying mechanisms of change through participant feedback

Open consultation hours in the winter semester 2025/2026:
Wednesday, November 5, 1–2 p.m.
Wednesday, December 17, 1–2 p.m.
Thursday, January 29, 12–1 p.m.

Appointments outside these times can gladly be arranged by email in advance.