Literally translated psychotherapy means "treatment of the soul" or treatment of mental problems. Psychological methods - such as psychotherapeutic conversations, relaxation techniques or cognitive methods - are used to identify and treat disorders of thinking, acting and experiencing.

Psychotherapy is the treatment of mental disorders with a pathological value, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, compulsions or psychosomatic illnesses. Psychotherapeutic measures are also increasingly used as a supplement to medical treatment, for example in the case of tumour or cardiovascular diseases.

Psychotherapy is a targeted treatment of a mental illness. The treatment should aim to remedy a specific problem and thus be limited in time.

Psychotherapy is necessary when a person's thoughts, feelings and behaviour impair their quality of life. The impairment can be caused directly by the symptoms of the disorder, such as severe anxiety, but also by the consequences of the mental disorder. For example, some affected people can no longer carry out their job and lose their partner and social contacts.

The affected persons themselves do not always suffer from the symptoms. There are also mental disorders in which people harm other people first and foremost through their conflicting behaviour. For example, people with a narcissistic personality disorder often feel very comfortable in their skin. When they go into therapy, it is usually because relatives are pushing them to do so.