Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York
English / German / French

Vita 
I am a psychoanalyst in private practice and a psychosocial researcher. That means I am not only interested in ‘individual psychology’ but the intertwinement of the individual and the societal. My background is in psychology and the social sciences. I studied psychology, English and French in Marburg and Paris from 1995 to 1998. In 2003 I finished my studies in psychology at the University of Bremen, Germany (Diplom).

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Bremen in 2008. My dissertation examined the aftermath of the Holocaust in several generations of non-Jewish Germans after Auschwitz, which, amongst other publications, resulted in a book, published in January 2009. Das (Nicht-) Sprechen über die Judenvernichtung. Psychische Weiterwirkungen des Holocaust in mehreren Generationen nicht-jüdischer Deutscher. ((Non)Speaking about the Extermination of the Jews. Psychical Aftermath of the Holocaust in Several Generations of non-Jewish Germans).

In 2007 and 2008 I collaborated on a study on right-wing-extremist attitudes in Germany, including anti-Semitism, racism and nationalism, with Dr. Oliver Decker and Prof. Dr. Elmar Brähler at Leipzig University. The study was built on a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods and also culminated in a book of which I was co-author. Ein Blick in die Mitte. Zur Entstehung rechtsextremer und demokratischer Einstellungen in Deutschland. (A Glance At The Center. On the Genesis of Right-Wing-Extremist and Democratic Attitudes in Germany).

Thereafter, I was a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (Assistant Professor) in a project on gender relations in the medical profession: Career Paths and Career Breaks of Women Physicians under the auspices of Prof. Dr. D. Alfermann, University of Leipzig, Germany.
From April to September 2010 I was a visiting scholar at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York).

Since 2015 I have the certificate in psychoanalysis from the William Alanson White Institute in New York where I also teach Gender, Sex & Sexuality for candidates in psychoanalytic training. In my clinical work I am engaged in a relational approach.

Research Interests​​​​

My research is based on a combination of qualitative methods in the social sciences and psychoanalysis. I explore the psychosocial, i.e. the intertwinement of ‘the psychical’ and ‘the societal’ in the human subject. My academic roots were formed within a research tradition based on Freudian psychoanalysis and on the so-called Frankfurt school of Critical Theory (Adorno, Horkheimer).

Research Areas

Psychoanalysis, psychosocial studies, qualitative methods, right-wing-extremism, racism, anti-semitism, intergenerational transmission, trauma, stigma, studies in gender, sex and sexuality. 

Professional Memberships

Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute 

American Psychoanalytic Association

International Psychoanalytic Association 

Co-Editor of the Journal "Psychoanalyse. Texte zur Sozialforschung" (Psychoanalysis. Contributions to Social Research).

Editorial Board Member of the Journal "Contemporary Psychoanalysis"
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uucp20

Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS)

International Research Group for Psycho-Societal Analysis (IRGfPSA)
https://psycho-societal.org

Supraregional Research Group on the Psychosocial Long-term Effects of the Shoah at the Sigmund-Freud-Institute in Frankfurt/Main.