Michael Röder

I am a certified psychotherapeutic counselor, gestalt therapist and university lecturer in practice in Frankfurt and online in Beijing (China). My focus is on relationship problems, anxiety, depression, life crises, loss and bereavement. I have been interested in psychology since I was young and ever since I have wanted to understand what drives people, motivates them and influences their behavior. Why and how do we stand in our own way and fail to seize the opportunities that lie ahead of us? What hurts us and why can't we simply shake off past events and early experiences - perhaps even hurting ourselves and others? What makes people so-called “difficult” people? I have always felt close to people who were marginalized, ignored or ridiculed by their peers because they were different - and I have become friends with them. During my alternative civilian service and my first years at university, I supported people with cognitive impairments. Through the more theoretical study of literature, cultures and psychoanalysis, my work experience in employee representation, I came to practical courses in humanistic psychotherapy, including a 5-year training in Gestalt therapy. From 2006, I went to China three times as a university lecturer and lived there for over 12 years in total. My counseling work focused mainly on issues of intercultural communication and dialogue and on the personal and professional development of students. In 2022/2023, I led Qigong courses for patients at a pain clinic in the Rhine-Main area. Since 2005, I have regularly attended courses and further training in psychological counseling and psychotherapeutic approaches.