Open-Label Placebos helfen beim prämenstruellen Syndrom (Frey Nascimento et al., 2025, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine)

Horizonte – Das Schweizer ForschungsmagazinDer Placeboeffekt des Placeboeffekts

Imagine... Vorgestellte Pillen helfen gegen Prüfungsangst (Buergler et al., 2023, Scientific Reports

Placebos helfen gegen Schuldgefühle (Sezer et al., 2022)

Die Expertin für Schmerzen bei KindernPD Dr. Helen Koechlin

Why ethics matter in psychotherapy

In vino veritas? Der Einfluss des Preises auf die Wahrnehmung von Wein (Werner et al., 2021, Food Quality and Preferences)

Migräne-Prophylaxe mit Medikamenten zeigt bei Kindern kaum Wirkung (Locher et al., 2020, JAMA Pediatrics)

Auch psychologische Placebos haben eine Wirkung (Gaab et al., 2019 Scientific Reports)

Warum die Ethik ein Standard in der Psychotherapie ist und sein sollte

Wirkt Psychotherapie auch verdeckt? Ja und nein (Tondorf et al., 2017, PLOS ONE)

Auch offen abgegebene Placebos wirken – wenn sie erklärt werden (Locher et al., 2017 PAIN)

Studie zu Placeboeffekt und Antidepressiva bei Kindern und Jugendlichen (Locher & Koechlin et al., 2017 JAMA Psychiatry)

Placeboeffekte bei Altersdepressionen (Locher et al., 2015 J Affective Disorder)

Langfristige Folgen von Trennungsangst bei Kindern (Kossowsky et al., 2013 Am J Psychiatry)

Clinical psychology and psychotherapy

What are the conditions and processes required to treat mental disorders and problems effectively? These questions are central to and guide our research and teaching as well as our approach to psychotherapy and further education. Our basic understanding and approach is as empirical as our attitude is humanistic. In our research, we are interested in the conditions and mechanisms of change. We focus on psychotherapeutic interventions and placebos and we investigate these with different research designs and methods and on different healthy and clinical populations. The aim of our teaching is to educate and train psychology students in theory and practice for practical and scientific work in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. The content focuses on intervention, placebo and psychotherapy research and their implications for clinical practice. Our teaching is interactive and communicative.

Center for Psychotherapy

The Center for Psychotherapy at the University of Basel is a service of the department and offers psychotherapy, training, counseling and diagnostic assessments for mental disorders as well as psychotherapeutic co-treatment for medical illnesses and physical complaints for all age groups. The services offered by the Center for Psychotherapy are accessible to all, are always geared towards the individual case and are based on the scientific findings and practical experience of clinical psychology and psychotherapy as well as associated relevant disciplines. All procedures, methods and techniques used have been scientifically tested and have proven themselves in practice.

Further training

The department runs three postgraduate training courses that complement the range of content and methods on offer:

TheMaster of Advanced Studies in Humanistic Psychotherapyis based on theresults of psychotherapy and intervention research andteaches the use of evidence-based interventions, the understanding of psychological problems and disorders and the use of therapeutic psychotherapeutic approaches and behavior.
The Certificate of Advanced Studies in Animal Assisted Therapy is an extra-occupational university continuing education program with the aim of imparting sound theoretical and practical knowledge of the human-animal relationship and the use of animals in one's own therapeutic work.
The Certificate of Advanced Studies in Motivational Interviewing teaches solution-oriented and practice-proven behaviors and skills that enable change processes, specifically promote motivation and use this for behavioral change.