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Psychotherapist Johannes Lindner: "Despite all the hardships, psychotherapy is and will remain my dream job"
Photo: Filip Veškrna
The start into working life is exciting, exhausting - and often completely different than planned. In the series “My first year in the job” young professionals tell how they experienced this time. This time: Johannes Lindner, 33, studied psychology in Bremen, completed a three-year training course as a psychotherapist and started his own business two years ago.
“In the schoolyard, I was always the type that the newly separated ran to and howled. People can open up to me well - I can't even say why. I also had a very cool social science teacher in middle and high school who did a lot of psychology with us. That's how I came to study.
It took me five years to do the Bachelor and Master together.
The real club, however, was the subsequent three-year training - especially the 18-month clinical internship.
I had more than one full-time job and only got 250 euros a month for it.
Nobody could do it without credit or outside support, after all, the training itself still costs several thousand euros.
Fortunately, there has now been a training reform.
Those who start studying now receive their license to practice medicine, i.e. state approval as a psychotherapist: in, right after their studies - and the subsequent further training is remunerated at around 4,000 euros a month according to the collective agreement.
More from "My first year in the job"
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Career entry as a farmer and cheese maker: "Sometimes I am shocked by how many hours I work a week" Recorded by Nieke Weinast
Career entry as a tattoo artist: »First I practiced on a grapefruit.
Then came acquaintances «Recorded by Katharina Hölter
After completing my training, it was no longer an option for me to be employed.
I have a hard time with rules and authorities.
Family and friends have therefore often advised me to start my own business in the past.
And that's how it happened: I looked for a room, bought a pre-paid card for my mobile phone, set up an email address, placed online advertisements and made a homepage with the help of a YouTube tutorial.
Doubt at the beginning
At some point the first call came.
That was exciting: can I even do that?
How does billing work with private patients?
After the appointment, however, I felt totally relieved: Finally there was no more training corset, no supervisor with whom I had to consult.
I was solely responsible.
In the meantime, I have a turnover of around 5,000 euros a month.
Taxes, insurance, old-age provision and the fixed costs for my practice are deducted from this, and in the end I have around 2800 euros.
If someone wants to do therapy with me, it works like this: First there is a trial session to get to know.
At the second appointment, I take the patient through a standardized examination of all possible mental illnesses.
With the third, we take a closer look at the respective problem: How does depression, social phobia, or bulimia express itself in the patient?
During the fourth appointment we discuss the patient's life story.
Then I sketch the so-called disorder model, on the basis of which I create a treatment offer.
Then the patients can decide whether they want to accept it.
An appraiser will determine whether the costs will be covered, and that takes about six to ten weeks.
For example, I treat patients who suffer from panic attacks and no longer use public transport.
Such cases can be dealt with using exposure methods.
Means: The patients face their fears - and can experience that the strong feelings and body symptoms do not get worse, but rather subside by themselves.
As a psychotherapist, I think: one should be able to appreciate everyone and not judge them early on.
But sometimes you have to admit that the chemistry just doesn't fit.
For example, I have a hard time with people who are depressed and who smoke marijuana at the same time.
Even if I can understand that self-medication makes bad feelings more bearable: THC has a far too strong and lasting influence on thinking and motivation.
Psychotherapy can do little to counter this.
More inquiries since Corona
I never worried that too few patients would come to me. It is well known that more people need therapy than psychotherapists have the capacity. Corona has exacerbated this problem again. I'm also currently getting more inquiries than I can accept - especially from young people. Not being able to go to sports, to flat-share parties or to bars and discos has driven many into loneliness. This is a huge burden, especially for young people who want to try things out.
It is difficult for me and my colleagues when the e-mail inbox is full of inquiries from desperate people.
I then decide based on urgency.
First of all, I had to accept that I cannot help everyone.
I work part-time and don't do more than 24 patient hours a week, so I have enough energy for everyone.
Despite all the hardships, in training and at work, psychotherapy is and will remain my dream job.
I have a real curiosity about people - and the will to influence something for the better. "
Have you just started your career yourself and would like to tell us about it? Then write to us at SPIEGEL-Start@spiegel.de.