Department of Psychology
Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Promoting mental well-being and social stability
Clinical psychology and psychotherapy deals with psychological and social stress in families, couples and individuals as well as mental disorders and physical illnesses that are associated with psychosocial complaints. The aim of psychotherapy is to support families, couples and individuals in the prevention and resolution of psychological and social stress, disorders and illnesses. The aim is to stabilise and maintain family, partnership and personal balance in everyday private and appointment life. In detail, this involves the following aspects, for example:
- Context-sensitive understanding of health and illness
- Dialogue-based construction of diagnoses
- Collective and individual clinical-psychotherapeutic treatment concepts
- Training and further education of therapists
- Supervision of health care systems.
The Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III is headed by Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe. Research and teaching focus on application-oriented and experimental research into socio-psycho-biological processes in psychotherapies with several people (e.g. families, couples), individuals and third professionals (especially systemic therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy). The focus is also on the development and effectiveness testing of psychotherapeutic methods and diagnostic procedures (e.g. EXIS, BAS, SozNet).
Chair holder
Univ.-Prof. Dr.
Christina Hunger-Schoppe
Chair holder
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Management
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Centre for Mental Health and Psychotherapy
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 Witten
Room number: 1.124b
Research
The Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III researches psychological and social stress and psychosocial complaints in families, couples and individuals. The focus is on preventing and solving these problems in order to stabilise personal and family equilibrium. The focus is on research into socio-psycho-biological processes, the development and examination of psychotherapeutic methods, and the training and supervision of therapists. Overarching projects include systemic therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, multi-person and attachment therapies in practice-research networks and specific projects.
Current research projects
- Interaction-focussed music therapy with children with cancer and important caregivers - to the project
- Psychotherapeutic changes in a multi-person setting - to the project
- Psychotherapy in multi-person and caregiver settings - to the project
- Resources and disorders in social networks - to the project
- Mental health in business families - to the project
- Language in psychotherapeutic processes - to the project
- System and family constellations in presence - to the project
- System and family constellations in virtual reality - to the project
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of systemic therapy - to the project
- Systemic therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorders - to the project
Teaching
The Chair offers courses in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes of the Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy:
- Seminars: Psychotherapeutic Process I (Niels Braus) & Psychotherapeutic Process II (Robin Gräfenkämper), Practical Seminar Systemic Therapy (Chawwah Grünberg), Systemic Therapy Process Management (Silvia Scholz), Case Conception (Christina Hunger-Schoppe), Applied Psychotherapy (Christina Hunger-Schoppe)
- Project seminar: F2 module Clinical Research, incl. Scientific Writing, SPSS (entire chair)
- Lectures: Introduction to Clinical Disorders and Procedures I & II, Specialised Disorders and Procedures I & II, Care Settings (Christina Hunger-Schoppe)
- Ongoing supervision of Bachelor's and Master's theses
- External workshops: "Optimally preparing multi-person settings (MPS)" (Christina Hunger-Schoppe & Robin Gräfenkämper), "Social network diagnostics" (Christina Hunger-Schoppe & Niels Braus) & "Help, I'm in a jam!" - Systemically confronting dilemmas in therapy and counselling" (Silvia Scholz & Robin Gräfenkämper)
Current awards
Poster prize for the best Master's theses (WS 2024/25)
Congratulations to the winners of the poster presentations of the MSc examinations on 21 and 23 January 2025! Johanna Hertzberg and Luisa Manietta took first place with their innovative and in-depth research on topics related to systemic therapy and mental health. Their work contributes to the understanding and further development of important psychological concepts.
Poster prize for the best Master's theses (WS 2023/24)
Fenja Kulemann took 2nd place in the award ceremony for the best Master's theses in the School of Psychology and Psychotherapy on 23 January 2024. The prize was awarded as part of a poster presentation. Her Master's thesis dealt with the topic "Favour and barrier factors for the multi-person setting in system therapy practice" and was supervised by Robin Gräfenkämper and Prof. Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe.
Prize for the best Master's thesis in the Faculty of Health (2023)
Valerie Liebers received the prize for the best Master's thesis in 2023 from the Faculty of Health at UW/H. In her thesis "Reducing the stigmatisation of schizophrenia through an intervention with a virtual avatar in virtual reality", supervised by Prof. Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe and Alexandra de Carvalho, she investigated innovative approaches to reducing prejudices against schizophrenia.
Award at the Research Day (2023)
In January 2023, Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe and her team were honoured at the UW/H Research Day for their 10 years of research on family constellations in group settings. The randomised controlled study on family-oriented interventions was presented at the UW/H Research Day. From a total of 140 submissions, 10 project groups were selected to present their research results in short presentations.
Supervisor Award of the German Psychological Society (2023 and 2021)
Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe was awarded the Supervisor Prize by the German Psychological Society in 2023 and 2021 for her outstanding supervision of doctoral students in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. The award is based on an online survey in which doctoral students can nominate and rate their supervisors.
Further information on the 2023 prize
Further information on the 2021 prize
Nomination for the "Award for innovative and outstanding teaching" (2023)
Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe was nominated for the UW/H Teaching Award in October 2023. This award recognises her innovative and outstanding teaching in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Students can nominate lecturers for the prize, which is awarded for special didactic commitment and innovative forms of teaching theory and practice.
Internal research funding of the UW/H (2022)
Constance Boyde and Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe received internal research funding from the UW/H in 2022 for their joint research project on music therapy for children with cancer. The project investigates the involvement of important caregivers in music therapy for children with cancer and is supported by a randomised controlled study. Internal research funding is particularly aimed at junior researchers in the early phase of their professionalisation.
Student Travel Award of the Society of Psychotherapy Research (2021)
Sina Baader was honoured with the 2021 Student Travel Award of the Society of Psychotherapy Research. Her Master's project "Culture and Change in Multi-Person Psychotherapy", supervised by Dr Nina Immel and Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe, enabled her to present her research findings at the international conference of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR).
Individual Grant Prize of the Society for Psychotherapy (2021)
Dr Nina Immel received the 2021 Society for Psychotherapy (SPR) Individual Grant Award. She was awarded $5,000 for her dissertation project "Psychotherapeutic Change in Multi-person Settings (CHAMPS)". The research aims to develop a taxonomy of change indicators for multi-person psychotherapies.
Press and podcasts
- "Christina Hunger-Schoppe in conversation with Günther Schiepek: On the theory and practice of complex systems"
- Not true, but usable - the systemic psychotherapy podcast with Prof Dr Christina Hunger-Schoppe
- Virtual reality in counselling and coaching with Tobias van Bebber
- "When partners and parents become part of psychotherapy" with Niels Braus and Robin Gräfenkämper
Keynote Speaker
- Christina Hunger-Schoppe speaks at the 12th Conference of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA), and the 21st Congress of the Red Europea y Latinoamericana de Escuelas Sistémicas (RELATES), 27-30 August 2025, https://www.efta-relates2025.com/
The team of the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Dipl.-Musikth.
Constance Boyde
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: E.060
Niels Braus, M. Sc.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Kristian Braun, M. Sc.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Robin Gräfenkämper, M. Sc.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Chawwah Yael Grünberg, M. Sc.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58448 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Silvia Scholz, M. Sc.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Orcid ID: 0000-0002-7931-9377
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Magdalena Wendt, M. Sc.; M. A.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Philipp Wichelhaus, M. A.
Researcher
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Tobias van Bebber, M. A.
Doctoral student
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 50
58448 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Leonard Finke, M. Sc.
Research assistant
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Teresa Nowak
Research assistant
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58448 WittenRoom number: E.060
Meriana Ophaus, B. Sc.
Research assistant
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
M. Sc.
Nina Immel, M. Sc.
Associated employees
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.129b
Secretariat
Agatha Dampc, M. A.
Secretariat
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.115 (FEZ), 1.123 (FEZ)
Heike Freudewald
Secretariat
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 1.115
Angela Hölscher
Secretariat
Faculty of Health (School of Psychology and Psychotherapy) | Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 WittenRoom number: 2.191
