The Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine is responsible for treating and preventing mental illness throughout a person's entire lifespan and promoting the mental health of the general population, Med Uni Graz employees and people with somatic disorders and mental illness. Our medical professionals take into account biological, psychological and social factors according to the biopsychosocial model. Through research (clinical, basic and interventional), we guarantee that new findings are constantly generated and that patients benefit from the latest knowledge, thereby contributing to high-quality science in a global context. Promotion of junior researchers is important to us. Students are integrated into all our activities so that they acquire competence and clinical knowledge as early as possible.
The Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine has three divisions: the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, the Division of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine and the Division of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine.
The Division of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine has five wards with a total of 65 beds as well as an acute care outpatient clinic and other specialized outpatient clinics. Its consultation services provide care for people with mental disorders on other—somatic—wards. Education and research in acute care are very closely connected. Students and trainees develop an understanding for mental illness in a practical setting and become acquainted with diagnostic techniques and therapy. We include a variety of clinical research projects in our daily practice so that patients receive the greatest benefits while we obtain new insights for improved treatment.
The main responsibility of the Division of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine is to implement the biopsychosocial model in psychotherapy. It aims to develop and disseminate a humanistic approach to medicine and implement it in patient care, education and research through integrated and cooperative treatment that includes biological, psychological and social dimensions. The psychiatric/psychosomatic/psychotherapeutic consultation and liaison services (C/L) and specialized outpatient clinics guarantee this by taking into account the biopsychosocial connections between diseases and their treatment. Our multiprofessional team consists of specialists in psychiatry and psychotherapeutic medicine, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists who closely cooperate with specialists in other disciplines (e.g., internal medicine, neurology, surgery).
The Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine provides cutting-edge treatment in an outpatient setting for children and adolescents up to the age of 18 with mental illness. If partial inpatient treatment or complete hospitalization is required, the division closely cooperates with LKH II, where patients may be admitted if desired by all parties and seen as necessary by the outpatient clinic doctor. The clinic serves all patients who exhibit symptoms on the pediatric and adolescent psychiatry spectrum and would like a diagnosis or treatment (and their parents). Our approach is solution-oriented and patient-centered. Symptoms have causes, which we would like to discover and treat in cooperation with patients of all ages.
The uniqueness and the added value of our department are the result of the symbiosis between patient care, research and education. The department is jointly operated by the Medical University of Graz and the Styrian Hospital Association (KAGes). This interdisciplinary cooperation between both providers at the University Hospital Graz site is also reflected on our website. More information on patient care can be found at the University Hospital Graz website.
