This Master's program complies with the requirements of the new Psychotherapists Act and the Licensing Regulations for Psychotherapists and qualifies students for professional psychotherapeutic activities in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy for adults, children and adolescents. It provides the skills, abilities and knowledge required to apply for admission to the psychotherapeutic examination (state examination for licensure) and access to further training as a specialist psychotherapist.

Students deepen and broaden their basic knowledge acquired in the Bachelor's program in Psychology through a research- and application-oriented scientific education in four semesters. They apply scientific methods in the field of clinical psychology, practice clinical psychological diagnosis, and practice psychotherapeutic intervention. The full spectrum of mental disorders and evidence-based practices across all age ranges are considered.

The program comprises four semesters. The first two semesters have a normal semester structure, with lecture periods as in other KU programs. In this phase, students take courses from the basic psychological subjects (research methods, scientific specialization, diagnostics and assessment), on the theoretical foundations of clinical work (e.g., Disorders and Procedural Theory, Evaluation, Documentation) and on practical content (Professional Qualifying Activity II, Self-reflection). This study phase also includes a research internship.

After this first half of the program, students are divided into three groups, which then go through the following stages in a trimester structure (13 weeks each): inpatient internship, outpatient internship at the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Department, and the main part of the work on the Master's thesis. The trimesters are divided into three periods from September to November, January to March, and May to July. This solution enables a good supervision of students as well as an even distribution of internship places due to constant small group sizes.

Support during the application process as well as information about the semester abroad is provided by the International Office at the KU.

The program includes several internships and courses with a high practical relevance.

• Research-Oriented Internship II - Psychotherapy Research. This is conducted as a course over one semester with both theoretical and research practice components
• Professional Qualifying Activity II - In-depth Practice of Psychotherapy. These three courses are conducted in small groups and have a high practical relevance through exercises.
• Professional Qualifying Activity III - Applied Practice of Psychotherapy. This module consists of 450 hours of face-to-face time in an inpatient or partial hospitalization facility and 150 hours of face-to-face time in the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Department. Within the framework of these 600 hours, students perform various services defined in the PsychThApprO.

Career prospects

Upon graduation, students are qualified to work independently in the clinical psychology field and to take the licensure examination for psychotherapists. This in turn entitles graduates to further training as a specialist psychotherapist, which is not only a prerequisite for self-employment, but will also be increasingly in demand in areas of institutional care for the mentally ill and in clinical teaching and research. Both with and without further training, the job market situation for applicants in the psychotherapeutic field is excellent.