Your additional qualification for studying psychology

Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Psychology (IBAP)

Neuroscientific research in psychology has made great strides in recent years, particularly in the study of the neural basis of mental processes, such as consciousness, emotions and cognition. However, psychological phenomena do not consist solely of neural or biological aspects, but also of what we experience qualitatively – for example, through the question ‘what does consciousness feel like?’. Conceptual understanding also plays a role, for example through the question ‘what insights does conscious reflection enable me to gain – and how do I arrive at these insights?’. The aim is to examine in greater detail the content and methods used to investigate the experiential and cognitive aspects of mental events.

Thus, alongside the biological perspective on human beings, the humanities-based perspective is also incorporated – that is, the capacity for experience (the soul) and the capacity for insight (the mind). This more comprehensive perspective is particularly important in practical medicine and psychotherapy, where it has already been incorporated in various ways. The focus here is not only on physical symptoms, but also on what patients experience and what insights they gain in their approach to health and illness.

This expanded approach enriches the research specialisation on ‘Integrative and Personalised Healthcare’, as represented at the Faculty of Health at Witten/Herdecke University. Our aim is to examine key psychological concepts such as attention, memory, intention, the self and consciousness from a perspective of psychology informed by the humanities.

The work on empirical introspection research within the Integrated Companion Programme is also carried out in collaboration with the Institute for First-Person Research at UW/H, as well as with other institutions in Germany and abroad.