Psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy: you work with conversation, relationship and the course of illness, hardly with devices.
Training in Germany (model regulations)
• Training 60 months, including 12 in somatic patient care
• Self-experience (120–150 hours depending on the method) and 35 double sessions of Balint group work
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Rate only how much you would like the situation.
Core task
Holding long conversations
A one-to-one session often lasts 50 minutes. You listen, ask follow-up questions and sit with silences.
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Core task
Leading group therapy
You sit in a circle with eight patients and see how conflicts and dynamics play out in the group.
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Core task
Reflecting on yourself
Self-experience, supervision and Balint groups are part of the training. You talk about your own reactions to patients.
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Bearing slow progress
You see whether a treatment works after weeks or months, usually without a measurement or a clear number.
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Physical symptoms without an organic finding
Pain, dizziness or palpitations with normal investigations. You explain how mind and body are connected.
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Hearing distressing life stories
Trauma, eating disorders, suicidality. You take it seriously without taking it home with you.
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Liaison work in somatic medicine
You co-treat hospital patients with cancer, heart disease or pain, for example in psychocardiology or psycho-oncology.
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A calm, predictable routine
Few emergencies, fixed appointments, often fewer night shifts. But also little action.
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Core task
Doing without procedures
No catheters, no ultrasound, no procedures. Your tool is conversation.
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Very much
This test is a structured self-assessment, not a validated psychometric instrument. The specialty profiles are informed estimates. Use the result as a starting point for conversations and check it with shadowing days and talks with specialists. Training information applies to Germany; the binding rules are those of the relevant state medical chamber. Specialty preferences often change during medical school, so retake the test after new rotations.
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