Help with Mental Stress & Illness
Studying is a stage of life that demands a lot from students and is often accompanied by major changes and stress. Sometimes everything becomes too much, problems seem overwhelming, and mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders can occur.
TUM offers a wide range of counseling services to help you with problems during your studies, but does not provide psychosocial or psychotherapeutic counseling itself. However, TUM students have access to various points of support and crisis assistance in the event of psychological stress or psychiatric illnesses:
The Student Unions offer psychosocial or psychotherapeutic counseling to all students free of charge and anonymously, but not full psychotherapy.
Topics can be, among others: difficulties in studies (for example, work problems, anxiety about exams), relationship and partner conflicts, isolation and contact problems, problems of detachment from parents, mental illnesses (depression, anxiety, psychosomatic complaints, eating disorders, compulsions, etc.), experiences with sexual harassment, addiction problems, integration problems, etc.
Here you will find the contact details for the different TUM campuses:
- Munich/Garching: Psychotherapeutic and Psychosocial Conselling Service of the Munich Student Union
- Freising/Weihenstephan: Psychotherapeutic Advisory Service in Freising of the Munich Student Union
- Straubing: Psychological counseling of the Lower Bavaria/Upper Palatinate Student Union
- Heilbronn: Psychosocial counseling of the Heidelberg Student Union
When an incisive event or ongoing stress leads to emotional overload, we speak of a mental crisis.
Such crises can affect anyone. The causes of acute mental distress are manifold and can be triggered, for example, by severe losses or disappointments, traumatic experiences, conflicts, upheavals, loneliness and mental illness. In a crisis, many people lose their inner balance and experience feelings of disorientation, hopelessness, sadness, confusion, or fear.
In acute cases, do not hesitate to contact experts who will be able to assist you, clarify your individual situation with you and, if necessary, initiate further support measures.
- International help: If you want to communicate in your native language or if you live abroad, here is a list of foreign and multilingual helplines.
- Germany-wide: A directory of crisis services close to your home can be found on the Deutsche Depressionshilfe (German) page. Telefonseelsorge Deutschland (German) offers anonymous, free counseling at any time of day or night at the nationwide telephone numbers +49 800 111 0 111 or +49 800 111 0 222.
- Bavaria-wide: The Crisis Services Bavaria (German) offer telephone help for people in mental crises, but also for those affected around them and their relatives, as well as specialized services, 365 days a year at +49 800 655 3000.
- In the Munich area: The City of Munich provides an overview of services and contact points in mental health crisis situations (German).
Psychotherapy is a treatment of mental disorders that are considered to be illnesses. Here you will find information and contact addresses if you are looking for a place in psychotherapy:
- The Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists provides a guide to psychotherapy (German).
- To make an appointment for an initial diagnostic consultation, you can contact the Psychotherapy Appointment Service (German) of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Bavaria (KVB). The Psychotherapy Coordination Office (German) of the KVB also supports you in finding a place for psychotherapeutic treatment. Corresponding service offers are also available from the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (German) in other German states.
- Portals such as the Psychotherapy Information Service (German) or www.therapie.de (German) also offer online searches for therapists as well as background information.
- Another possibility is to contact training institutes in the field of psychotherapy. Some of them offer to complete a psychotherapy with experienced psychologists at the end of the further education to become a psychotherapist. A list of institutes can be found at www.therapie.de.