Individual Psychology at SFU

The application for a specialisation in individual psychology at SFU was approved by the Psychotherapy Advisory Board on 13 December 2011. The application for recognition as a psychotherapeutic training institution with a method-specific orientation: Individual Psychology in accordance with § 7 of the Psychotherapy Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 361/1990 was submitted to the Federal Ministry on 23 September 2008.
Recognition of the Individual Psychology method as a training institution for the psychotherapeutic specialisation (23.03.2012) (PDF, in German)

We would like to point out that until further notice, students who are not simultaneously studying psychotherapy science at SFU are not authorised to complete the practical hours at the SFU outpatient clinic.

Individual psychology at SFU is a modern analytical, psychodynamic and depth-psychological method. It is based on the assumption that the most important course for the future is set in childhood and that the unconscious is of great importance for behaviour, experience and world views.

At the centre of her considerations is a specific theory of self-esteem regulation, which takes into account the dynamics between unconscious feelings of inferiority and the striving for recognition or social equality. In addition, its foundations include a drive theory that takes into account not only the role of sexuality, but also that of aggression. It also takes into account a comprehensive theory of causes, because it not only asks about the origin (“causa efficiens”) of the phenomena, but also about intentionality (“causa finalis”), i.e. what one unconsciously wants to achieve with a certain behaviour.

Philosophically, individual psychology is primarily based on the “philosophy of the as if”, an early constructivist theory by the neo-Kantian Hans Vaihinger. On the one hand, unconscious conflicts – especially between instinct and morality and between a sense of inferiority and the desire for power – and on the other, defects that originate in early relationship patterns are seen as the source of mental illness.

Individual psychology at the SFU is characterised by a pluralistic attitude and therefore offers a wide range of possibilities for analytical discourse in the German-speaking and international area. These include, above all, drive theory, ego psychology, object relations theory, self-psychology and intersubjective or relational currents.

Curriculum & courses

Please note that the documents below are only available in German.

Admission

Admission procedure 2025

The following regulation applies: Two positively completed individual interviews with the head of IP:
1.) either with Ass.-Prof.in Mag.a Dr.in Dorothea Oberegelsbacher (Mail: d.oberegelsbacher@sfu.ac.at) or with Univ.-Prof. Mag. DDr. Bernd Rieken (Mail: bernd.rieken@sfu.ac.at),
2.) for a deputy head of training: either Dr Gabriela Pap (email: gabriela.pap@sfu.a.c.at), Dr Susanne Rabenstein (email: susanne.rabenstein@sfu.ac.at) or MMag.a Martina Heichinger (email: martina.heichinger@gmail.com).
If the individual admission interviews are positive, applicants must register for the group admission seminar, which will take place on Tuesday, 24 June 2025 from 10:00-20:00 and will be led by MMag. Martina Heichinger and Univ.-Prof. DDr. Bernd Rieken.
We would like to expressly point out that a psychotherapeutic propaedeutic certificate must be submitted by 31 August 2025 for the intended start of training in September 2025. Furthermore, it is not possible to start at an angle in the summer semester.
Admission to the IP specialisation by way of a compulsory admission procedure is decided exclusively by the head of the specialisation. We would like to point out that a positively completed admission procedure is valid for a maximum of one year. After that, a new admission procedure must be completed. Even if you usually start the WPF/FS after the admission procedure, it is generally possible to take a leave of absence for one year from the head of the training programme after successfully completing the admission procedure, but longer periods are not possible.
Applications for the 2025 admission procedure are possible from 2 January 2025 to 2 June 2025, or earlier if the maximum number of 25 people has been reached.

Costs for admission & admission: € 480,-
This includes the processing of the documents, two interviews, participation in a seminar (or three interviews), information interviews, crediting procedure, etc.

Contact Finance and Controlling:
Mail: ptw-accounting@sfu.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 798 40 98 304
Opening and telephone hours: Mon-Thu: 10:00 – 15:00 / Fri: 10:00 – 15:00 (Fridays only available by telephone)
Address: Freudplatz 1, 3rd floor, room 3002

Continue to the payment modalities

Fee

Fee for the training programme per semester: €5,919
Admission fee: € 550

Contact Finance & Controlling:

Mail: ptw-accounting@sfu.ac.at
Phone: +43 1 798 40 98 304
Office and telephone hours: Mo-Thur: 10 am – 3 pm / Fr: 10 am – 3 pm (Fridays by telephone only)
Address: Freudplatz 1, 3rd floor, room 3002

General payment modalities

Management team - Individual Psychology

Teaching therapists, supervisors & teachers - German and English programme

Please note that the documents below are only available in German:

Contact addresses & CVs of the teaching therapists in the elective subject and specialisation in individual psychology: IP-Lehranalytiker*innen-Liste Sept. 2023.pdf
Contact addresses & CV of the supervisors in the elective subject and specialisation in individual psychology: IP-SupervisorInnen-Liste_April 2025.pdf
Contact addresses for teaching analysis / supervision of individual psychology in Linz: IP-Lehranalyse_Supervision – Linz_Sept. 2021.pdf

Dr. Nina Arbesser-Krasser

Individual psychologist
Lecturer
Specialisation: children, adolescents and adults, trauma, sexuality, anxiety
CV Nina Arbesser-Krasser (PDF, in German)
office@psychotherapie-arbesser.at

“Individual psychology offers an undogmatic perspective that makes it possible to understand the individual in depth and to facilitate constructive change processes. The openness of the method makes it possible to incorporate and utilise findings from other disciplines, which enriches the psychotherapeutic process.”

Mag. Herta Brinskele

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: Child and adolescent psychotherapy
CV Herta Brinskele (PDF, in German)
herta.brinskele@chello.at

“For me, individual psychology is like a compass in the field of tension between the individual and the community in order to find a suitable course for the demands of life.”

Stefan Brinskele

Individual psychologist
Lector
stefan.brinskele@reintegra.at

Mag. Aline Drescher

Individual psychologist
Lecturer
CV Alina Drescher (PDF, in German)
adr@psychotherapie-drescher.at

“All human failings are the result of a lack of love.” (Alfred Adler)

Dr. Petra Eibl-Mörzinger

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: Psychosomatic complaints and illnesses, panic attacks and anxiety disorders, gender-specific problems with role models and difficult phases of life, identity development, personality development
CV Eibl-Mörzinger (PDF, in German)
petra.eibl-moerzinger@a1.net

“I do not believe myself to be bound by any strict rule or bias…everything can be different” (Alfred Adler)

Dr. Rudolf Filz

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst
rudolf.filz@utanet.at

Dr. Trude Frank-Emge

Individual psychologist
Supervisor
trude.frank@chello.at

University Professor Dr. Peter Gasser-Steiner

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: addictive disorders, personality disorders, structural disorders, psychoses
CV Peter Gasser-Steiner (PDF, in German)
peter@gasser-steiner.at

Dr. med. Dr. phil. Peter Geißler

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst
CV Peter Geißler (PDF, in German)
geissler.p@aon.at

MMag. Martina Heichinger

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor, deputy head of the specialisation course
CV Martina Heichinger (PDF, in German)
martina.heichinger@sfu.ac.at

“Individual psychology is about the uniqueness of the self, about understanding the unconscious lifeline of a person. The individual-psychological approach is characterised – loosely based on Adolf Muschg – not by the goal of exposure, but by impartiality in the face of nakedness.”

University lecturer Mag. pth. Vivien Kain

Individual psychologist
Supervisor
Specialisation: Infant, child and adolescent psychotherapy, accompanying work with parents, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, psychosomatics, compulsions
CV Vivien Kain (PDF, in German)
v.kain@diepraxis-waehring.at

“In the tension between the goal and reality we discover the meaning of our lives.” (Alfred Adler)

Academic Professor DDr. Alfred Kirchmayr

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst, supervisor
CV Alfred Kirchmayr (PDF, in German)
alfred.kirchmayr@aon.at

“I see the essence of the individual psychological perspective in the “principle of encouragement”, in creative self-development, the cultivation of the social sense and the art of living, in the awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses. This is associated with openness to other therapeutic perspectives and strategies. The development of humour and joy are essential (result of modern brain research!).”

Ass.Prof. Mag. art Dr. phil Dorothea Oberegelsbacher

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor
Psychotherapy for limited verbalisation skills, intellectual impairment and multiple disabilities, psychosomatic disorders
CV Dorothea Oberegelsbacher (PDF, in German)
d.oberegelsbacher@sfu.ac.at

“Based on the theory of the unconscious and the human being as a communal being, a profound understanding of the workings of the psyche and lifestyle can be gained, so that in the areas of love, work and community not only insight, but also the ability to act and creative innovations become possible.”

Dr. Gabriela Pap, MSc.

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: Psychodynamic developmental theories, child and adolescent psychotherapy, individual psychology in theory and practice, dream research
CV Gabriela Pap (PDF, in German)
gabriela.pap@sfu.ac.at

Dr. Susanne Rabenstein

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor, deputy head of the Individual Psychology Specialisation Centre
Specialisation: (complex) (attachment) trauma, analytical body psychotherapy, psychosomatics, anxiety and depression, personality disorders
CV Susanne Rabenstein (PDF,in German)
susanne.rabenstein@sfu.ac.at

“To understand people from their history and their relationship experiences and to discover which patterns of thinking, feeling, symbolisation, body and behaviour (according to Adler, which lifestyle) they have developed in order to cope with life, sometimes in order to survive, – which resources, but also which symptoms have arisen from this and how the current experience – freed from this – could be different.”

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Dr. Paolo Raile, MSc

Individual psychologist
Lecturer
Specialisation: psychoses, dementia, theoretical foundations
CV Paolo Raile (PDF, in German)
paolo.raile@sfu.ac.at

“Psychoanalytic individual psychology is a versatile method with many possible approaches to support people in difficult phases of life.”

Mag. Manfred Reisinger

Individual psychologist
Lecturer
Specialisation: Sexuality, psychotherapeutic diagnostics, treatment techniques
CV Manfred Reisinger (PDF, in German)
manfred.reisinger@sfu.ac.at

“As a theory of self-esteem regulation, individual psychology combines basic assumptions based on depth psychology with current relational trends and therefore allows a holistic view of the individual in theory and practice.”

Prof. Dr. Dr. Bernd Rieken

Individual psychologist
Lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor
CV Bernd Rieken (PDF, in German)
bernd.rieken@sfu.ac.at

“Anyone who wants an undogmatic approach to the unconscious and is of the opinion that self-esteem problems (“feeling of inferiority”) play an important role is in good hands with individual psychology.”

Helga Seeböck

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst, teaching therapist
Specialisation: psychosomatics, neuroses, identity and gender-specific issues, eating disorders, crisis intervention, cancer patients and relatives of cancer and dementia sufferers, support for people with chronic illnesses, e.g. autoimmune diseases.
CV Helga Seeböck (PDF, in German)
helgaseeboeck@hotmail.com

“For me, the essence of IP is holism, the unity of body, mind and soul, as an interaction for the understanding and significance of the intra- and interpsychic dynamic processes and developments of an individual from the beginning to the end of life.”

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Sindelar

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst (does not accept new teaching analysands), supervisor
Specialisation: Child and adolescent psychotherapy
CV Brigitte Sindelar (PDF, in German)
b.sindelar@sindelar.at

“Individual psychology’s view of the human being is based on the indivisible wholeness of the human body, mind and soul and its embedding in the community. It thus does justice to the many facets of being human and mental suffering as well as primary and secondary prevention for mental health, both historically and in the present day.”

Mag. Christoph Sindelar

Individual psychologist
Lecturer
CV Christoph Sindelar (PDF, in German)
c.sindelar@sindelar.at

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stephenson

Individual psychologist
Head of department, lecturer, teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: Trauma
CV Thomas Stephenson (PDF, in German)
thomas.stephenson@sfu.ac.at

“Individual psychological psychoanalysis is the key to the exploration of the individual and social unconscious and to the development of the individual and social self.”

Mag. (Fh) Kathrin Walch

Individual psychologist
Supervisor
Specialisation: trauma, gerontopsychotherapy, autism in adults
CV Kathrin Walch (PDF, in German)
praxis@kathrin-walch.at

“No man can feel well without his consent.” (Mark Twain)

Dr. Roland Wölfle

Individual psychologist
Teaching analyst, supervisor
Specialisation: individual psychological analysis, group psychotherapy; body therapy, psychoanalytic supervision and organisational counselling, balint group leader
CV Roland Wölfle (PDF, in German)
r.woelfle@vol.at

“Individual psychology according to Alfred Adler, Rudolf Dreikurs and others emphasises people in their integration into various reference groups and systems. Understanding people in the field of tension between the individual, family, social environment, society and culture and supporting them in being able to assert themselves effectively in this network on the one hand, and understanding themselves as a valuable part of a larger whole on the other, is at the centre of my psychotherapeutic work.”

Candidate Representation

Madeleine Kristin Gerl
Email: ip.kv@sfu.ac.at

Publications

Please note that the publications below are only available in German.

Journal for Free Psychoanalytic Research and Individual Psychology

In the Zeitschrift für Freie psychoanalytische Forschung und Individualpsychologie you will find further articles on the subject of individual psychology. The journal is published twice a year.

http://journals.sfu.ac.at/index.php/zfpfi

Lectures / Contributions

Lecture IP and Freud – Oberegelsbacher (PDF)
Living means feeling inferior – On the topicality of Alfred Adler’s individual psychology – Lecture Bernd Rieken (PDF)
Interview Rieken in “Der Standard”, 2008
Journal of Individual Psychology, article from issue 03/2013: Reflections on the academisation of psychotherapy – using the example of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna / Bernd Rieken (PDF)

Book publications of the last years

Bernd Rieken, Brigitte Sindelar, Thomas Stephenson
Psychoanalytic Individual Psychology in Theory and Practice
Psychotherapy, education, society
Springer Vienna/New York, 2011; ISBN 978-3-7091-0464-4

Bernd Rieken (Editor)
Alfred Adler today
On the topicality of individual psychology

with contributions by
Helmut Albrecht, Herta Brinskele, Petra Eibl-Mörzinger, Gisela Eife, Peter Gasser-Steiner, Vlad Grigorescu, Alfred Kirchmayr, Vivien Langer, Dorothea Oberegelsbacher, Gabriela Pap, Joachim Prandstetter, Susanne Rabenstein, Gisbert Redecker, Bernd Rieken, Brigitte Sindelar, Thomas Stephenson, Roland Wölfle, Stefanie Zauner

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 1
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2011

Brigitte Sindelar
From the parts to the whole
Theory and empiricism of integrative psychological and psychotherapeutic developmental research

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 7
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2014

Bernd Rieken (Editor)
How to cope with the incomprehensible?
Interdisciplinary approaches using the example of the Galtür avalanche disaster

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 10
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2015

Roland Wölfle
“Where I was, community should become”
Group psychotherapy and therapeutic communities in individual psychology

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 11
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2015

Nina Arbesser-Rastburg
The Munich “Adlerhorst” through the ages – an individual psychological retrospective
The history of the Alfred Adler Institute Munich

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 12
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2015

Bernd Rieken (Editor)
Narrating about catastrophes
Contributions from German philology, narrative research and psychotherapy science

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 16
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2016

Susanne Rabenstein
Individual psychology and neuroscience
On the neurobiological foundation of Alfred Adler’s theories

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 20
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2017

Reinhold Popp, Bernd Rieken, Brigitte Sindelar
Futurology and psychodynamics
Thinking about the future between fear and confidence

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 21
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2017

Oberegelsbacher, D., Rieken, B., Sindelar, B., & Stephenson, T. (2017)
Individual psychology. Life integration through self-responsibility
In D. Berthold, J. Gramm, M. Gaspar, & U. Sibelius (Eds.), Psychotherapeutic perspectives at the end of life (pp. 175-190). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Geißler, P.; Rieken, B. (eds.)
The body in individual psychology
Theory and practice.
Giessen: Psychosozial Verlag 2017

Gabriela Pap
The sense of community from the perspective of intersubjectivity
Philosophical, psychoanalytical and developmental psychological roots.
Wiesbaden: Springer Verlag 2017

Anna Jank-Humann
Wild North Sea: Disaster experiences on the Halligen of North Friesland
A psychoanalytical-ethnological study

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 25
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2019

Nina Arbesser-Krasser
Coping with Shaking – Shattering processing in Los Angeles
A contribution to disaster research

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 29
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2021

Bernd Rieken (ed.)
Narrated sense of inferiority

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 35
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2022

Paolo Raile
Power and rivalry in letters
An analysis of the correspondence of depth psychological associations between 1902 and 1938

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 36
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2022

Bernd Rieken, Manfred Gehringer (Eds.)
Power and powerlessness from an individual psychological perspective
Psychodynamic and social approaches

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 37
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2022

Paolo Raile
Psychotherapy science
Foundations of an independent scientific discipline

Series Psychotherapy Science in Research, Profession and Culture, Volume 39
Publication series of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna, edited by Bernd Rieken
Waxmann, Münster/New York, 2023

IP consultation hour in the Summer Semester 2025

Dear training candidates,

We cordially invite you to our IP consultation hours. Take the opportunity to ask questions about IP and exchange ideas with our IP management team.

Dates in the summer semester 2025:

11.03.2025 at 15:00 via ZOOM (Martina Heichinger, martina.heichinger@sfu.ac.at)
28.03.2025 at 08:30 in the practice (Susanne Rabenstein, susanne.rabenstein@sfu.ac.at)
04.04.2025 at 15:00 via ZOOM (Martina Heichinger, martina.heichinger@sfu.ac.at)
25.04.2025 at 12:00 in presence in room 4005 (Gabriela Pap, gabriela.pap@sfu.ac.at)
09.05.2025 at 08:30 in the practice (Susanne Rabenstein, susanne.rabenstein@sfu.ac.at)
23.05.2025 at 13:00 in presence in room 4005 (Gabriela Pap, gabriela.pap@sfu.ac.at)
03.06.2025 at 15:00 via ZOOM (Martina Heichinger, martina.heichinger@sfu.ac.at)
23.06.2025 at 18:00 in the practice (Susanne Rabenstein, susanne.rabenstein@sfu.ac.at)

We ask you to register in advance by e-mail and look forward to your participation and questions.

Psychotherapists with a Specialisation in Individual Psychology

Here you will find the lists of psychotherapists and psychotherapists in training under supervision who have been certified by the SFU as having completed the specialisation in individual psychology in accordance with the requirements of the Psychotherapy Act and the training guidelines of the Psychotherapy Advisory Board at the Federal Ministry of Health:

Liste der Psychotherapeut*innen – Juni 2025.xlsx (in German)
Liste der Psychotherapeut*innen in Ausbildung unter Supervision – Juli 2025.xlsx (in German)

Contact

Bettina Pfitzner

Email: bettina.pfitzner@sfu.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 798 40 98 406
4th floor, room 4019

Opening and telephone hours:
Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri: 09:00 – 15:00

Address:
Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna
Faculty of Psychotherapy Science
Freudplatz 1
1020 Vienna

IP Cloud: https://sfu-oc.sfu.ac.at/index.php/s/PFuFOjTnlhMPHi0

Individual Psychology at SFU

Admission procedure 2025

Ass.Prof. Mag. art Dr. phil Dorothea Oberegelsbacher