Heads: Univ.-Prof. DDr. Kurt Greiner & Ass.-Prof. Dr. MMag. Martin Jandl
kurt.greiner@sfu.ac.at / martin.jandl@sfu.ac.at (Gallery-Office 4003)

Faculty of Psychotherapy Science (PTW) at Sigmund Freud University Vienna (SFU)

PTW research foci, under which all activities of the institute fall: Hermeneutic therapy school research, therapy school dialogue/therapy school interdisciplinary research, psychotherapy science theory and psychotherapy science philosophy. As this institute considers the subject of psychotherapy science (PTW) as a paradigm pluralistic psychoscience culture, all activities are in the service of therapy school diversity.

1) Experimental psychotherapy science aka psychotextology (synonym) is the teaching of text-scientific research into psychotherapeutic theories. At present, this basic research discipline, which began to crystallise at SFU Vienna in 2007, consists of the following four methodological programmes (A-D), within which basic knowledge about implicit conditional and presuppositional structures underlying the explicit teachings and concepts of individual psychotherapy modalities is created using diverse experimental and imaginative hermeneutic procedures:

  • Method programme A: Standardised therapy dialogue (procedure A.1).
  • Method programme B: Text-puzzle procedure (procedure B.1/B.2/B.3)
  • Method programme C: Psycho-picture methods (methods C.1/C.2/C.3/C.4/C.5)
  • Methods programme D: Media-play techniques (Procedures D.1.a-c/D.2.a-c)

2) Psychotherapy philosophy sees itself as an auxiliary science of psychotherapy science and comprises the following core areas:

  • Linking psychotherapy and philosophy of science to generate a genuine understanding of psychotherapy science.
  • Reflection on images of the human being from all schools of psychotherapy by reading psychotherapeutic texts not only in clinical terms, but also by relating them to philosophical anthropology
  • Critical reflection on the dominance of some schools of psychotherapy, the clinical focus and the increasing diagnostics, thus the psychologisation of PTW in the sense of a scientific variable-oriented psychology
  • Rejection of the equation of psychotherapy science with (quantitative or qualitative) psychotherapy research
  • Support of experimental psychotherapy science by reflecting and ordering insights gained through experimental and imaginative hermeneutics.
  • Philosophical reflection on central psychotherapeutic concepts (e.g. therapeutic alliance, dream, emotions, pathology, unconscious, non-discursive knowledge of self, etc.).
  • Discourse analysis and reflection of self-technologies and self-techniques
  • Strengthening the socio-critical potential of psychotherapy schools

Academic Activities

Lectures & Training

Our staff regularly teach in our BA, MA and PhD programmes. A selection of courses in which you can learn about our research methods and science projects:

  • Science and Research Methodology I (VO+UE, B2) Prof. Greiner & Ass.-Prof. Jandl
  • Science and Research Methodology II (VO, B4) Prof. Greiner & Ass.-Prof. Jandl
  • Methods of qualitative psychotherapy research (VO, M2) Prof. Greiner
  • Hermeneutic research (SE, DOK) Prof. Greiner
  • Philosophy of science (SE, DOK) Prof. Greiner
  • Privatissimum (Ao. LV) Prof. Greiner & Ass.-Prof. Jandl
  • Lecture series – Perspectives of Psychotherapy Science, Prof. Greiner
  • Research Lab “Philosophy, Hermeneutic and Dialogical Research in Psychotherapy” (Ao. LV) Ass.-Prof. Jandl & Prof. Greiner
  • Workshop Philosophy (Nietzsche, Hume, Ryle, Kant, Merleau-Ponty), (mixed undergraduate-graduate) Ass.-Prof. Jandl
  • Existential Philosophy (graduate) Ass.-Prof. Jandl
  • The better consciousness and the will – Schopenhauer (graduate) Ass.-Prof. Jandl

Supervision of theses

Within the framework of Experimental Psychotherapy Science (Psychotextology), there are now approximately seventy (70, as of 2022) completed and approved qualifying studies, distributed across all three graduation levels: Baccalaureate, Master’s, Doctorate. In these studies, research was conducted using the following methods of our Institute:

  • Programme Sector A: Standardised Therapy Schools Dialogue (TSD)
    Method A.1: Experimental Trans-Contextualisation (ExTK)
  • Programme sector B: Text Puzzle Method
    Method B.1: Classic psycho-text puzzle (P-T-P)
    Method B.2: Intertherapeutic Text Puzzle (ITTP)
  • Programme sector C: Psycho-picture Methods
    Method C.1: Classic Psycho-Picture Process (PBP)
    Method C.2: Intertherapeutic Picture Process (ITBP)
    Method C.3: Small Psycho-Building Game (PBS/k)
    Method C.4: Large Psycho-Image Game (PBS/g)
  • Programme sector D: Media game techniques
    Methods D.1.a-c: Classic Psycho-Media Games (PMS)
    Methods D.2.a-c: Intertherapeutic Media Games (ITMS)

Research & Publications

Current research projects

“PSYCHOTEXTOLOGY. Experimental Psychotherapy Science at Sigmund Freud Private University. A textbook”
Major textbook project: In 2007, as part of the Greiner-Jandl Initiative at SFU Vienna, the so-called Experimental Psychotherapy Science, aka psychotextology, got rolling with the development of the Standardised Therapy Dialogue (TSD). Gradually, further experimental and imaginative hermeneutic methods and procedures have differentiated themselves in this innovative basic research discipline of SFU psychotherapy science, so that today approx. 16 different technique variants are available for therapy school research, which are also used by PTW students. In the meantime (as of 2022), 70 completed and approved qualification theses are available, distributed across all 3 graduation levels (bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctorate). It is now necessary to constructively utilise excerpts from the best of these works in the sense of this textbook. In a didactically sensible way, reading samples are to be integrated into the planned publication, which will sketchily demonstrate how the diverse methods, procedures and techniques of Experimental PTW function in research practice. Before this large practical part, the young research discipline will be defined in terms of scientific theory as well as explained in terms of research methodology. Project management: Kurt Greiner / Project assistance: Tamara Trebes / Project duration: 2021-2013

“ADVENTURE BIZARROSOPHY. Experimental and Imaginative Hermeneutic Expeditions in the Science of Psychotherapy”.
Anthology project in the Libri Nigri series published by Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen. Editors: Martin J. Jandl & Kurt Greiner

Publications

List of Publications (PDF; in German)

Contact

Heads | Requests for cooperations

Univ.-Prof. DDr. Kurt Greiner
Mail: kurt.greiner@sfu.ac.at
Tel.: +43 1 798 40 98 408

Ass.-Prof. Dr. MMag. Martin Jandl
Mail: martin.jandl@sfu.ac.at
Tel.: +43 1 798 40 98 453

Institute for Psychotextology and Philosophical Psychotherapy Studies

Faculty of Psychotherapy Science
Sigmund Freud University Vienna
Gallery Office 4003, 4th floor
Freudplatz 1
1020 Vienna