Mental Health

In case you are in need for professional help with personal/private/mental problems, please do not hesitate to contact the Psychosocial Counselling (PSB (Psychosoziale Beratung)), or the Psychotherapeutic Outpatient Clinic (in German: Psychotherapeutische Ambulanz für Studierende = PAS). It really shows true greatness when you seek for help.

In principle, there are only small differences between PSB and PAS. The PSB is an institution of the Studentenwerk, for students and employees of all universities in Göttingen. The PAS is part of the Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the University Medical Center (UMG) and serves for Students of the University of Göttingen.

Both facilities are therefore suitable for you.

In terms of content, the PAS differs from the PSB only in the way that it is also possible to treat patients with medication, as medical doctors work in the outpatient clinic.
All employees of PSB & PAS, therapists and medial doctors, are obliged to confidentiality. The information and data you share with them are handled confidentially and will not be forwarded to third parties. Counselling is also possible anonymously (on request).

Learning and work problems
Excessive performance demands on yourself
Examination and failure fears
Overwhelmed feelings
Difficulties in making decisions
Disorientation and fear of the future
Conflicts with parents or in a partnership
Contact difficulties, self-esteem problems or feelings of loneliness
Personal crises
Addiction problems
Depressions
Fears
Psychosomatic problems
Workplace problems and
Problems in dealing with students in difficult situations

Acute study or life crises
Work or learning disorders
Phobias (i.e. exam nerves, social phobia)
Depressive crises, states of exhaustion
Other psychic or psychosomatic symptoms
Family or relationship conflicts
Difficulties in making contacts

Both institutions have Open Consultation Hours by telephone in which you can call and speak to a counsellor to make a first appointment or evaluate a way of proceeding. Please visit the webpages for details about telephone consultation times. The PSB has usually on Wednesdays an open hour in English. A therapist of the PAS can be reached daily from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m..

For further contacts and information about the many different types of support, please visit the webpage Mental Health Support at the Göttingen Campus!

In case of an urgent crisis when the counselling services are not available, please do not hesitate to contact any of the following institutions:

Uniklinik - Psychiatrische Klinik
Von-Siebold-Straße 5
Phone: 0551 - 39-66610 (24h/day)

Asklepios Specialist Clinical Centre
Rosdorfer Weg 70
37081 Göttingen
Phone: 0551 - 402-0

Women's Shelter
Groner Straße 32/33
37073 Göttingen
Phone: 0551 - 5211800

Crisis helpline (Telefonseelsorge Göttingen e.V.)
Phone: 0800 - 1110111

The Welcome Centre of the University of Göttingen can support you to find a therapist or medical specialist who speaks English or your foreign language. Please write an email to the Welcome Centre and ask for the expert with the respective language you need. In all cases your primary contact should be your General Practitioner (GP)/family doctor (Hausarzt), so please get in contact with a GP early on. For more information on doctors in Göttingen, or how to find one, please check with the page of the Welcome Centre at Doctors in Göttingen.

In case you are encountering mobbing or sex-related violence, please find more information under Discrimination.

The team of Scholar Minds in Berlin has put together some resources on the mental health crisis in academia and information about personal actions and self-help tools. Maybe you want to have a look on their Resources webpage for more information.