PTS | Psychotherapy Science Across Europe: Insights from Research Days in Linz and Paris
Future Traumas: 5th Linz Research Days
The 5th Linz Research Days (27-28 February 2026, SFU Linz, hybrid format) brought together around 50 participants on site and a further 40 joining digitally under the title Future Traumas: Psychotherapy between Fragility and Resistance.
At the centre of the conference was the concept of future trauma, coined by philosopher Alice Lagaay. The term describes how impending catastrophes – such as democratic erosion, the climate crisis, and war – can already be anticipated and experienced in the present. This perspective also challenges the psychoanalytic concept of Nachträglichkeit (deferred action), proposing instead Vorträglichkeit as an anticipatory temporal structure of trauma.
The event opened with a pre-congress organised by Psychotherapy Science students at SFU Linz. The main conference featured presentations by Alice Lagaay, Elisabeth Schäfer, Agnes Stephenson, Bettina Zehetner, Gerhard Burda, Stephan Engelhardt, Ralf T. Vogel, Esther Hutfless, and Thomas Stephenson.
The conference was certified by the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP) as a continuing education activity. Recordings of the contributions will be broadcast on Dorf TV (Upper Austria) and will soon be available on the YouTube channel of SFU Linz (Psychotherapy Science).
Exploring Mental Health Spaces: 1st Research Day in Paris
The 1st Research Day of the Faculty of Psychotherapy Science at SFU Paris, held under the theme Internal and External Spaces of Mental Health and Well-being, brought together more than 50 participants from SFU campuses and beyond.
The event opened with a presentation by Nicole Aknin, who introduced an upcoming edited volume on religion, deviance, and psychopathology. Subsequent contributions explored diverse perspectives on mental health, including cardiovascular health and psychological well-being (Tamás Martos), relocation and parenting (Viola Sallay), and the broader social dimensions of anxiety (Stéphanie Larchanché). Student presentations further expanded the discussion, addressing topics such as war, migration, and transnational medical journeys.
The event sparked lively discussion and reflection, particularly on the relationship between physical and mental health, the role of spatial settings in therapeutic relationships, and the extent to which contemporary anxiety reflects individual pathology or broader societal conditions.
- Recordings of the presentations are available online.