![]() The Bedarfsplanung is there to ensure sufficient health service coverage based on need across Germany, and it does so by setting a maximum number of licences per region. It literally translates to ‘plan of need’, but ‘coverage plan’ would probably be more accurate. When our team set out to understand how exactly Berlin got to this point, we immediately hit on a key term: Bedarfsplanung. The fact is: there clearly aren’t enough public licences to meet the demand for therapy. The number of people looking for psychotherapy in Germany rose by 40%, and a majority had to wait over six months for treatment, according to the RBB. ![]() While the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (Association of Public Doctors) couldn’t provide the exact number of people who are currently waiting for a therapy spot in Berlin, they confirmed a sharp increase in placement requests over the last few years, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. Without a licence, therapists have to ask their patients to pay themselves or to jump through many complicated hoops to get the therapy paid for. Why Is It So Hard to Get Therapy? Illustration: Rebecca Hendinīut what exactly is it that makes it so unbelievably hard to find psychotherapy in Berlin? The problem is not that there aren’t enough therapists – it’s that there aren’t enough Kassensitze, or licences, for therapists covered by public health insurance companies. ![]() Scores of Berliners are looking for resources to take care of their mental health, and what these Berliners rapidly realise is that it’s far harder than you’d ever imagine. Therapy has come to resemble an informational Wild West: Berliners are trading secrets like they once did Covid vaccine appointments, trying workarounds and jumping through hoops to get the help they need. In fact, the system is set up to make it hard: access to psychotherapists who are covered by public health insurance is intentionally restricted, the pathways to therapy are littered with paperwork, and there’s very little information on how to navigate the system in German, let alone in English. It’s not that Berliners aren’t trying to get help, but finding psychotherapy is particularly difficult here. For newcomers, it could be because leaving your place of origin and settling into a new home can be difficult due to transient friendship circles and, sometimes, growing apart from friends and family back home. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact causes of unhappiness exactly, but for people born here, it might be the history of wars and crises, and later the shock of being reintegrated into the global system and subsequent waves of gentrification. While Berlin is a city that invites people from all over the world, it’s also a place that can feel closed off: the endless lines at the Bürgeramt, the near-impossibility of finding permanent housing, underpaid work, and, well, sometimes just the closed doors of an Edeka on a Sunday morning. This is hardly good news, but when you give it some thought, it’s not all that surprising. While, as of 2022, Berlin is no longer considered the unhappiest state, they’re still in the bottom three. What exactly is it that makes it so unbelievably hard to find psychotherapy in Berlin? In 2021, Berliners were awarded the undesirable title of being the unhappiest people in all of Germany by the SKL Glücksatlas. What might seem like a very subjective statement is actually a hard fact. A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Therapy (and getting it paid for)īerliners are miserable.
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