When is inpatient psychotherapy useful?
Inpatient psychotherapy is an option for people who are experiencing severe life crises. Inpatient treatment offers relief and security to people who are unable to cope with their problems in their everyday lives and familiar surroundings. It provides the necessary support to deal with personal problems and find solutions.
Where is inpatient psychotherapy available?
Inpatient treatment for mental disorders is possible in hospitals for psychiatry and psychotherapy as well as hospitals with departments for psychosomatics and psychotherapy. These hospitals mainly treat patients covered by statutory health insurance (Section 39 SGB V), but also private patients and self-pay patients.
There are also clinics for the inpatient rehabilitation of patients with mental and/or psychosomatic disorders. Here, the pension insurance is usually responsible for the measure (§ 15 SGB VI), but sometimes also rehabilitants within the statutory health insurance (§ 40 SGB V).
Finally, inpatient psychotherapeutic care is also provided as part of consultation and liaison services. Consultation and liaison services serve to improve psychotherapeutic care in clinics by providing supportive advice or treatment from specialists from the hospital itself, from cooperating clinics or from the outpatient sector.
When is admission to a psychiatric ward or clinic with a department for psychosomatics and psychotherapy appropriate?
Inpatient psychotherapy with close-meshed treatment and a constant opportunity to treat crises is appropriate if
- you have a pronounced mental and/or physical "co-morbidity", e.g. you have several mental illnesses;
- your physical and/or mental resilience is severely reduced;
- your symptoms are particularly severe;
- you are contemplating taking your own life or have already attempted suicide,
- you feel or behave aggressively, can no longer control your emotions, use violence or physically or emotionally abuse other people,
- you are under too much strain due to your domestic and social situation or
- outpatient treatment is not sufficient for you.
Addictions, depression or schizophrenia are often treated as inpatient treatment for adults. The therapies usually require a combination of medical measures (e.g. detoxification, controlled administration of medication) and psychotherapeutic treatments.
Adolescents (aged 14 to 18) are mainly treated as inpatients for severe behavioral disorders, developmental disorders, schizophrenia or depression. The most common diagnoses among treated children between the ages of 5 and 13 include self- and other-endangering behavior, severe behavioral, performance and developmental disorders.
How does an inpatient admission take place?
Inpatient treatment requires referral by a psychological psychotherapist or a child and adolescent therapist, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy, a specialist in neurology or child and adolescent psychiatry. Referral via the clinic's outpatient department is also possible.
Who bears the costs for inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment in an acute hospital?
As a rule, the statutory or private health insurance company covers the costs of this measure. If your health permits, please clarify with your health insurance company or insurance provider before admission to the clinic whether they will cover the costs. It is also advisable to clarify the obligation to pay with other insurance providers (e.g. from the assistance offices of public employers).
Please note: Patients with statutory insurance who are over 18 years of age pay an additional payment of 10 euros for each day of inpatient treatment for a maximum of 28 calendar days per year. Additional payments are usually billed during the hospital stay.
Please have your German health insurance card ready when you are admitted.
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