Introduction
This MA program explores one of the most differentiated and contemporary perspectives of the human psyche, as indeed for one of the most modern of the human sciences. As a science of the unconscious, psychoanalysis is not just a therapeutic method. It also represents a theory of science and knowledge, one that is located between the natural sciences and the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences, and which connects these lines of tradition in an innovative, forward-thinking manner.
With our Master's program, a unique, multi-layered study course is waiting for you that will prepare you for an equally diverse professional life and career. The study course’s clinical direction, which focuses on psychodynamic-psychoanalytical approaches, provides solid education and training in research methods. At the same time, this is broadened on a fundamental level with in-depth knowledge from non-clinical application areas of psychological and psychoanalytical thinking.
While its curriculum is based on the recommendations of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), one focus of the studies is on learning to apply fundamental diagnostic, counseling and therapeutic competencies. The course's psychoanalytical direction is reflected in the fact that, in addition to behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, systemic and other methods, the psychoanalytical methods represent the focus here.
Furthermore, the conveying of empirical and statistical methods is intended to also include those methods which are especially suited to record and map the processes and the results of any psychoanalytical treatment.
Ultimately, the psychoanalytical direction is also reflected in the fact that the students not only become familiar with psychoanalysis as a psychotherapeutic method but also as cultural theory and applied social science. The study course has been approved and officially accredited by the Berlin Senate.
Please keep in mind that almost all extracurricular offers at the IPU Berlin are provided in German and that sufficient German language skills will strongly ease your everyday life in Berlin. All applicants of the MA Psychology study course with a clinical focus are thus strongly encouraged to start learning German before arriving.
Study Aims
Our aim at the IPU Berlin is to make you familiar with the whole spectrum of the discourse so that the greatest possible range of professional options and perspectives are open to you afterward. Regardless of the career direction, you intend to take: With your Master of Arts Psychology degree from the IPU Berlin, you will be excellently prepared and equipped for your professional future. The intention of the Master of Arts Psychology course is to enable you to work independently as a clinical psychologist, to further your scientific or academic studies and to pursue a university or higher education career as the case may be. As a graduate, you can select a psychotherapeutic direction of your own choice (behavioral therapy, depth psychology, psychoanalysis).
If you, as an international student, plan on working in the psychotherapeutic field after graduation from IPU Berlin, we kindly advise you to look at the requirements for the recognition as a therapist in your home country before applying at IPU Berlin.
Course Structure and Organisation
The course comprises 120 ECTS credits, which can be earned in four full-time study semesters. The ECTS credits are spread to a similar extent across the semesters, with the Master thesis to be written in the final semester.
The course is arranged in five areas of study. In addition, there is a compulsory elective subject which is intended to give the students the opportunity to focus on a scientific or academic field in line with their own interests (e.g. Clinical Neuropsychology or Social Trauma or Selective Areas of Work and Organizational Psychology or Other Fields). Furthermore, the students should gain work experience by completing practical, work-placement professional training of at least 330 hours.
By designing its modules conceptually, the IPU is striving to enhance the transparency of both the content and aims of the studies, facilitate the planning of mobility options – also between study courses for instance – together with the workload for the students, and space this out uniformly over the study course to the greatest extent possible. Furthermore, the IPU regards itself as being committed to its goal of supporting the development of critically reflective professional skills that center on the human, matched by specialist practical, problem-solving abilities. Thus, wherever possible, the modules should reflect and map typical tasks and areas of work – in terms of practical applications or in research and teaching – and prepare the students for these responsibilities.
As a rule, the modules are taught in a timeframe extending over two semesters at the most. They are provided in annual or six, monthly cycles.
The modules for all the study courses are integrated into a representative study schedule which provides an intelligent chronological sequence for the modules. However, fundamentally there are no formal course admission restrictions generally. Accordingly, no specific prior competencies or knowledge are required in order to attend modules in a study course. The modules in the MA Educational Studies and/or the Applied Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytical Cultural Studies courses can fundamentally be studied as compulsory elective subjects in the MA Psychology.
Areas of Study and Modules
The MA Psychology program is divided into five areas of study
Reflexive Psychology and Theoretical Psychoanalysis (Modules 1 and 8)
Social Psychology Studies (Module 2)
Developmental Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, and Studies of Disorder (Modules 3 and 4)
Diagnosis and Intervention (Modules 5, 6, 9 and 10)
Methods of Practice-Orientated Research (Module 7)
The content is spread across the following 10 modules:
History of Psychoanalysis in the Context of the Establishment of Psychology as a Science (6 ECTS)Cognitive Interest and Methods in Psychoanalysis, Seminal approaches to the Conceptualisation of the PsycheThe module assumes psychoanalytical-depth psychology approaches embedded in the object formation and knowledge route history of science and ideas to the psychological and philosophical bodies of knowledge. The specifics of the psychoanalytical knowledge situation forms the reference. The theory of historical development of these approaches in relation to their discursive conditions and circumstances is conveyed.
Social Psychological Studies (6 ECTS)Drive and Affect, Thought and Speech, Microsociology of Human InteractionThe module consolidates the students' knowledge about the theories and methods of social psychology, the reciprocity of bodily perception and the formation of language, and provides an introduction to the micro-sociology of conversation.
Developmental Psychology (6 ECTS)Theories of Development / Developmental PsychopathologyThe module provides an overview of theories and methods in developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology, as well as psychoanalytical development theories and methods.
General and Specific Studies of Disorder (9 ECTS)Psychopathology and its ClassificationThe module conveys knowledge about the clinical psychological and neurobiological classifications and diagnoses, together with the concepts and findings from mental disorders, while permitting comparison with the concepts of general and special psychoanalytical disorder studies.
Psychological Diagnostics (9 ECTS)Theories and Practice of Psychological and Psychoanalytical DiagnosticsThe module conveys knowledge and skills in psychological diagnostics and a comparison with psychodynamic methods.
Psychotherapeutic Intervention (9 ECTS)Theory and Practice of Psychotherapeutic InterventionThe module conveys fundamental knowledge and basic competencies in the psychotherapeutic intervention.
Research Methods (18 ECTS)The module conveys research methodology knowledge and skills in diagnostics, developmental psychology on a cross-sectional and longitudinal basis, in healthcare epidemiology, comparative result and process research, in experimental designs, as well as in pure psychology research in the lab.
Science and Epistemology / Theories of the Subject (6 ECTS)Processes of theory formation, non-clinical fields of psychoanalysis and psychodynamicsPsychoanalysis as epistemology and subject theory: Transdisciplinary readings of psychoanalytical theories, their formation of knowledge and their bodies of knowledge. Interfaces with psychological, social studies, humanities, cultural studies and/or human sciences epistemes.
Prevention and Advice (6 ECTS)Illness prevention, Health promotion, psychodynamic counseling conceptsThe module conveys knowledge about prevention, health promotion, and counseling methods together with their respective theoretical bases. The intention is to provide oversight of the various fields of application (in both the world we live in and the working world) and especially to convey the "basic skills" required in the various settings for prevention work and counseling.
Elective (5 ECTS)Clinical Neuropsychology or Social Trauma or Selective Areas of Work and Organizational Psychology or Other Fields (to be named) The subjects of the module are functional deficits in experiences and behavior arising from damage to, diseases of or age-related changes to the central nervous system.
Study Costs
In order to pay the study fees, you can choose between three different payment options (full-time):
Payment monthly basis: €1,020
Payment semester basis: €5,900
Complete course study fees paid in advance: €22,500
In addition, a contribution of €298,80 per semester is levied on all full-time students, for which they can avail of the Student Union services. These also include the semester travel ticket, with which the students are entitled to use the local public transport network in Berlin. Please note that per semester, changes can occur to the semester fee.
The fees for the two-month bridging courses for career changers without a previous academic qualification or degree in psychology amount to a maximum of €2,000. Where applicants are able to evidence appropriate prior knowledge or qualifications achieved, this amount is reduced correspondingly. The IPU is making efforts to establish its own scholarship system.
Scholarships
As part of the DAAD funded scholarship program STIBET III – Matching Funds, the IPU Berlin is thrilled to announce the implementation of three scholarships for international students demonstrating academic excellence, initiating their studies in the MA Psychology study course with a clinical focus or German Track at the IPU Berlin during the winter term of 2021/2022. A further inclusion criterion states that the candidate must have obtained their bachelor’s degree in a country outside of the European Union.
To check your eligibility for the scholarship, please visit our scholarship page.
The five individual scholarships will stretch over a duration of 24 months (01.10.21-30.09.23) and will each amount to a monthly sum of €830. This amount approximately covers the monthly tuition fee for the MA Psychology study course with a clinical focus or German Track at the IPU Berlin.
The foremost criteria taken into consideration while choosing amongst otherwise eligible candidates are excellent academic achievements (1,0-1,5). Should candidates possess the same level of academic excellence, the following pre-determined criteria – in this given order – will further apply:
Letter of motivation
Individuals belonging to the first generation within their family to initiate an academic career
Societal engagement / voluntary activities
The application deadline is 15 August 2021.
