Gottfried Fischer (13 September 1944 – 2 October 2013) was a German

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

and

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

. He is considered to be the founder of

psychotraumatology Psychotraumatology is the study of psychological trauma. Specifically, this discipline is involved with researching, preventing, and treating traumatic situations and people's reactions to them. It focuses on the study and treatment of post-traum ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and has been director of the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

from 1995 to 2009.

Life

Fischer studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He received a doctor's degree in psychology and qualified as a professor in medical psychology at the University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

with a thesis on qualitative psychology research with the title: ”Contradiction and change – a dialectic model of change in the psychoanalytical process. A contribution to research on psychoanalytical processes in the framework of a qualitative single case study.” Fischer supervised the research at the German Institute for Psychotraumatology, which was founded in 1991. He also taught therapy and supervised the German and the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an Academy for Psychotraumatology. He managed the Institute for Research in

Psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, Development of Methods and Professional Training for psychological Psychotherapists in depth psychological and analytical Psychotherapy at the University of Cologne. Fischer founded the German Society for the Science of Psychotherapy (DGPTW) and was managerial editor of the magazine for Psychotraumatology, the Science of Psychotherapy and psychological Medicine (ZPPM) and continued to treat patients in his own private psychotherapeutic practice.

Work

Since 1995 Fischer has been managing the

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Help for Victims Project (KOM-Project). In the autumn of 1998 the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia decided that the project would be implemented countrywide. As a part of the project the Center for Psychotraumatology was established in the Alexianer Hospital Krefeld in the summer of 2004 as the teaching and research department of the IKPPD. Fischer developed a method of etiology orientated treatment of psychical disorders, the Psychodynamic-dialectic Psychotherapy (PdP). This method incorporates elements of behavioral therapy with a psychodynamically guided conception of cases and shaping of relationships. The Multidimensional Psychodynamic Trauma Therapy (MPTT) is used for the psychotraumatic etiology. By using this method on average 10 therapy sessions are sufficient to treat people successfully, who are at risk of suffering from long-term traumatic disorders. In cooperation with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

companies and institutions Fischer managed preventative procedures for victims of misfortunes. He developed a concept for recuperation weeks for traumatized people and helpers after stressful assignments as well as a training program for risk and personnel management in crisis situations for executives. Fischer also developed a documentation and planning system for Psychotherapy and the Treatment of Traumas (KÖDOPS). Further fields of teaching in the psychology degree course next to clinical psychology are work-, business and organizational psychology with a focus on the area of clinical institutions, psychotherapy research as well as art psychology and everyday esthetics.

Publications

Fischer has published about 200 works, including 10 monographs and publisher's compilations. * ''Fischer, G. & Riedesser, P.: Lehrbuch der Psychotraumatologie''. 4. überarb. Aufl., UTB Ernst Reinhardt, München, 2009 * ''Logik der Psychotherapie. Philosophische Grundlagen der Psychotherapiewissenschaft''. Asanger, Kröning, 2008 * ''Kausale Psychotherapie. Ätiologieorientierte Behandlung psychotraumatischer und neurotischer Störungen''. Asanger, Kröning, 2007 * ''Von den Dichtern lernen ... Kunstpsychologie und dialektische Psychoanalyse''. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg, 2005 * ''Konflikt, Paradox und Widerspruch. Ausstieg aus dem Labyrinth - für eine dialektische Psychoanalyse''. Asanger, Kröning, 2004 * ''Neue Wege aus dem Trauma''. Patmos, Düsseldorf, 2003 ''In English:'' * Fischer, G. (1995). ''Methodological Issues in Psychotraumatology - Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies of Research''. In: Stiftung für Kinder (Ed.), Children - War and Persecution (pp. 49–52). Osnabrück: secolo Verlag.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Gottfried German psychologists German psychoanalysts German psychotherapists Academic staff of the University of Cologne 1944 births 2013 deaths