Gabriele Lutz

Professor at the Faculty of Health, Department of Human Medicine, Chair of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy

Member of the Faculty of Health

Senior Physician Jona – Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Herdecke Community Hospital

The activities of the Chair of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy encompass research, teaching and outpatient and inpatient care for psychosomatic patients at Herdecke Community Hospital.

The professorship's research focuses on the following two areas:

The professorship's main areas of focus are

1. meaning research and psychotherapy research in the context of questions of meaning, with the guiding research question being how the experience of meaning can be promoted among patients and citizens. This is examined from different perspectives, primarily using qualitative methods, in the following research projects:

• Dealing with questions of meaning in outpatient psychotherapy from the perspective of
  • patients
  • psychological psychotherapists (with and without further training in existential psychotherapy or existential topics)
  • Transpersonal/spiritually-oriented (psycho)therapists
  • Psychotherapists in training
• Dealing with questions of meaning in chronically somatically ill patients from the perspective of hospital-based and private practice physicians
• Dealing with issues of meaning in the psychosocial care of the dying from the perspective of hospice staff and hospital chaplains
• Changes in the experience of meaning through near-death experiences
• Spirituality and its influence on finding meaning after stressful life events
• Cultural differences in the experience of meaning from the perspective of German WEIRD and Turkish non-WEIRD subjects
• Perception of moments of change

Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral theses are offered in this subject area.
 

2. In the phasing-out research area of medical education research, educational elements for promoting personal competence (e.g. communication, team competence, self-awareness, development of a coherent professional identity in a practical context) are being investigated in the following projects:

• Clinical reflection as a means of promoting personal competence in a hospital context
• Helpful and hindering factors in the development of a faculty-wide group mentoring programme
• Role of creativity in clinical communication training
• Barriers to the implementation of programmes for promoting personal skills
• Medical students' approach to questions of meaning

• Priv.-Doz. Dr. rer. med. Melanie Neumann, Head of Research
• Wiebke Uhlenbrock, M. Sc. Psychology, Research Assistant, Psychotherapist in Training
• Lea Benz, B. Sc. Psychology, B. A. Culture of the Metropolis, Research Assistant
• Clara Zass, B. Sc. Psychology, Freelance employee
• Lea Gredig, M. Sc. Psychology, Freelance employee, Psychotherapist in Training
• Viktoria Bierhoff, M. Sc. Psychology, Freelance employee, Psychotherapist in Training

Staff members at the professorship for teaching

• Simone Begemann, specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy and doctor of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy

• Medical director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy with ward, day clinic, outpatient clinic, consultation service and psycho-oncology at Herdecke Community Hospital.
  Information on the range of outpatient and inpatient care services can be found on our website https://www.gemeinschaftskrankenhaus.de/medizin-therapie-pflege/fachabteilungen/psychosomatik/uebersicht/
• Specialist in neurology
• Fachärztin für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie
• Weiterbildungen in spezieller Traumatherapie und psychosomatischer Schmerztherapie
• Tiefenpsychologisch fundierte Psychotherapie-Ausbildung

Academic education

1980 – 1983
Studied biology, German language and literature, nursing internships

1983 – 1990
Studied human medicine at the University of Witten/Herdecke

1995
Doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Witten/Herdecke on etiopathogenetic concepts of lumbago-ischialgia syndrome

1995 – 1997
Scientific work at the Back Pain Outcome Assessment Centre, headed by Prof. Richard Deyo, University of Washington, Seattle; analysis of the influence of patient expectations on the outcome of disc surgery.

2010 – 2019
Scientific and teaching work at the Integrated Accompanying Study Programme in Anthroposophic Medicine at the University of Witten-Herdecke.

2020
Habilitation at the University of Witten/Herdecke on the development of intra- and interpersonal skills in medical education – with a special focus on mental states.

2022
Associate professor at the University of Witten/Herdecke, venia legendi for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.
 

Professional activities

1990 – 1991
Intern in internal medicine, Herdecke Community Hospital

1991
Licence to practise medicine, Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia

1991 – 1992
Research work in the field of psychosomatics, University of Witten/Herdecke

1992 – 2000
Training as a specialist in neurology in Herdecke and Cleveland, USA

2002 – 2004
Further training as a specialist in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy

2009
Specialist examination Specialist in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy

2012 - 2019
Deputy Head Physician of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Herdecke Community Hospital

2019 – present
Head Physician of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Herdecke Community Hospital

The Chair of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy is integrated into all stages of the model medical degree programme at Witten/Herdecke University (see the current course catalogue).

The chair offers psychosomatic teaching in the form of one-week block seminars with theoretical and practical components in small groups with practical elements (see the current course catalogue).

In the mentoring programme, medical students can discuss personal, ethical, interactional or even very practical questions that arise during their studies in groups together with a doctor and a senior student from the first semester onwards and develop their own reflective approaches to dealing with them.
Detailed information can be found in this publication:
https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-017-0951-y

During the practical year, clinical reflection training is offered to all PJ students at the Herdecke Community Hospital. Every two weeks, students reflect on professional dilemmas with themselves, patients and/or colleagues and develop possible solutions using a standardised approach. In addition, they also learn methods for dealing with complex situations in everyday clinical practice.
Detailed information on this can be found in these two publications:
https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-016-0823-x
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738399113001298 

Block placements, compulsory elective blocks for medical students, placements for psychology students (BQTI and BQTIII, PJ tertials) can be offered both in the inpatient section of the department at the community hospital in Herdecke and in the psychosomatic day clinic in Witten.

• Psychosomatic issues, in particular somatoform disorders, geriatric psychosomatics, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociation
• Dealing with questions of meaning in a medical and psychotherapeutic context
• Training in personal skills (e.g. communication, teamwork, self-awareness, developing a coherent professional identity in a practical context) in medical education

Member of the

• German Society for Medical Education
• German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy
• German-speaking Society for Psychotraumatology