You can pay for therapy in Berlin privately, or go through the statutory system. Public health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) covers four recognised treatment approaches: behavioural therapy, depth psychology, psychoanalysis and, since 2020, systemic therapy. To use that route you need a therapist holding a Kassensitz, a contracted practice place. Berlin has its own Kassenärztliche Vereinigung, and its directory of contracted psychotherapists can be filtered by the languages they work in. Your GP and your health insurer can also give you names.
Waiting for one of those places takes an average of three months across Germany, and the size of Berlin's private sector doesn't shorten that queue. The Terminservicestelle is the central office meant to arrange an initial assessment appointment within four weeks of your first enquiry. After that, you go back to approaching contracted practices from those lists.
Paying privately is usually quicker. Most therapists on It's Complicated work with self-paying clients (Selbstzahler:innen) at rates they set themselves and can't bill public insurance, though a few do offer insurance options, which is something to ask them about directly. Berlin also lists a substantial number of psychotherapists in training, who are supervised and tend to charge less than fully licensed colleagues.
Psychologische Psychotherapeut:innen hold a state licence, and only licensed therapists may call themselves psychotherapists. Heilpraktiker:innen für Psychotherapie (non-medical practitioners for psychotherapy) have passed an examination by the public health authority (amtsärztliche Überprüfung), may also practise psychotherapy and bill privately. Every profile lists qualifications, which is the reliable place to check what someone is licensed to do.
If you hold public insurance and can't find a contracted therapist, ask your insurer about Kostenerstattung. It covers sessions with a state-licensed psychotherapist who doesn't hold a Kassensitz, and insurers like TK are legally obliged to pay where psychotherapy is necessary and urgent, as long as you can show you approached several contracted therapists and kept a note of when you asked and what each one said about availability.
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