Psychiatrists
and Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics
Who needs a psychiatrist — and who needs a psychotherapist? What is a Psychiatrische Institutsambulanz (a psychiatric outpatient clinic attached to a hospital), and why can it often help more quickly than a practice-based psychiatrist? This page offers orientation for people seeking psychiatric care, or who are unsure which service is the right one for them.
This page is intended for adults. In acute mental health crises, please contact the Krisendienst Bayern (Bavarian crisis service): +49 800 655 3000 — free of charge, around the clock. Or go directly to the Atriumhaus (24/7, Bavariastraße 11, Munich).
Psychiatrists — how do they differ from psychotherapists?
Medical Psychiatry
Psychiatrists are medical specialists — they have studied medicine, completed several years of specialist training in psychiatry and psychotherapy, and are licensed to prescribe medication. Many also offer psychotherapy.
Psychological Psychotherapy
Psychological psychotherapists have studied psychology and completed a state-regulated specialist training. They treat exclusively with psychotherapeutic methods — prescribing medication is not part of their licence.
“Nervenarzt” — what does that mean?
“Nervenarzt” (literally “nerve doctor”) is no longer a uniform specialist title. In the past, Nervenärzte combined neurology and psychiatry. Today the two specialisms are separate. For mental illness: look specifically for a Facharzt für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie (specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy).
Not Either-Or
Psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment are not mutually exclusive — they frequently complement each other. Anyone who is in psychotherapy and also needs medication requires a separate psychiatric contact for it.
When do I need a psychiatrist?
There are situations in which psychiatric treatment — with or without psychotherapy — is the right first step. And situations in which it creates the conditions for psychotherapy to begin effectively at all.
- Medication is called for — in severe depressive episodes, bipolar disorders, psychoses, obsessive-compulsive disorders, ADHD
- Symptoms are so acute that stabilisation is needed before psychotherapeutic work becomes possible
- The diagnosis is unclear and a specialist medical assessment is still missing
- An ongoing psychotherapy needs psychiatric support alongside it
- Addiction disorders require medical treatment
- Follow-up treatment is needed after an inpatient stay
Historically, there was a certain scepticism towards psychotropic medication among some psychoanalysts — the concern that medication might dampen symptoms understood as the expression of an unconscious conflict, and thereby impede the uncovering work. This attitude no longer reflects the current state of science.
That does not mean the question is irrelevant. In a psychodynamic or analytic treatment, one can and should consider together what effects medication has on the therapeutic process — on emotional accessibility, on dreams, on what is experienced in the session. That is not scepticism towards medication; it is part of a considered treatment.
What helps no one: attempting uncovering work in a state of emotional flooding. Sometimes psychiatric stabilisation — including pharmacological stabilisation — is what makes psychotherapeutic work possible in the first place. Both have their place.
What is a Psychiatrische Institutsambulanz (PIA)?
PIAs are outpatient clinics attached to psychiatric hospitals. They treat people for whom treatment with a practice-based doctor is no longer sufficient — because of the severity, duration or complexity of the illness. The decisive practical advantage: waiting times at PIAs are considerably shorter than at practice-based psychiatrists, where waits of several months are not the exception.
- Specialist diagnostic assessment and treatment of all psychiatric conditions
- Initiation and monitoring of medication
- Multiprofessional teams: psychiatrists, psychologists, social work, nursing
- Crisis consultation hours — often accessible at short notice
- A bridge between inpatient treatment and continued outpatient care
- Individually paced treatment: usually fortnightly or monthly, more frequent in crises
- A referral from your GP is usually desirable, but rarely strictly required
- Self-referral by telephone is usually possible — in an emergency, also without an appointment
- For the first appointment: bring your health insurance card and any existing doctors’ letters
- The first conversation serves the diagnostic assessment — the next steps follow from it
- PIAs are not long-term therapy in the psychotherapeutic sense, but psychiatric treatment and support
- The kbo PIAs in Munich are organised by district — each clinic is responsible for a specific part of the city
- If you live in the north of Munich (Schwabing, Maxvorstadt, Neuhausen), contact the kbo clinic on Leopoldstraße
- In an emergency or crisis, sectorisation does not apply — the Atriumhaus is open to all Munich residents 24/7
- As university institutions, the LMU Klinikum and the Max Planck Institute are less strictly sectorised
Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics (PIAs) in Munich
The following PIAs serve Munich and the surrounding area. All details are provided without guarantee — opening hours and access conditions may change. Please telephone before visiting.
24/7 — Crisis Care for All Munich Residents
kbo — Atriumhaus · Psychiatrisches Krisen- und Behandlungszentrum (Psychiatric Crisis and Treatment Centre)
Bavariastraße 11 · 80336 München (near Goetheplatz / U3 Poccistraße)
+49 89 7678-0
Crisis clinic opening hours: daily 0–24, including weekends and public holidays. No appointment necessary.
Catchment area: All of Munich — no sectorisation. The central contact point for everyone.
Services: Crisis ward, day clinic, night clinic, crisis outpatient clinic, long-term outpatient clinic. Closely linked to the Krisendienst Bayern.
kbo-iak.de/atriumhaus (in German) →Munich North — Schwabing, Maxvorstadt, Neuhausen, Milbertshofen
kbo — Tagesklinik und Institutsambulanz Nord · Schwabing (day clinic and outpatient clinic)
Leopoldstraße 175 · 80804 München (U3/U6 Münchner Freiheit, then tram 23)
+49 89 206022-500 (outpatient clinic)
ambulanz-schwabing.iak-kmn@kbo.de
Opening hours: Registration Mon–Fri during office hours. Crisis consultation: Mon–Fri 10–11.30 am in Haus 7, Kölner Platz 1.
Catchment area: Munich North. All psychiatric conditions from age 18. General psychiatry, old-age psychiatry, memory clinic, addiction disorders.
kbo-iak.de/nord-schwabing (in German) →University Hospitals — Less Strict Sectorisation
LMU Klinikum — Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy)
Nußbaumstraße 7 · 80336 München (near Sendlinger Tor)
+49 89 4400-55511 (registration Mon–Fri 9 am–12 noon)
Emergency department: open 24/7.
Catchment area: As a university hospital, no strict sectorisation. Self-referral possible — no referral strictly required. Privately insured patients via the private outpatient clinic.
Services: The full psychiatric spectrum, several specialist clinics (early detection of psychosis, ADHD, addiction, bipolar disorders).
lmu-klinikum.de/psychiatrie (in German) →Max-Planck-Institut — Ambulanz für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie (Outpatient Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy)
Kraepelinstraße 10 · 80804 München-Schwabing
Opening hours: Registration by telephone. Emergencies also seen without prior appointment.
Catchment area: No strict sectorisation. A referral is desirable but can be waived on request.
Services: Focus on severe psychiatric illness, particularly treatment-resistant depression. Consultations available in English, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Greek.
psych.mpg.de →Other Districts
Klinik Menterschwaige — Psychiatrische Institutsambulanz (Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic)
Geiselgasteigstraße 203 · 81545 München-Harlaching
+49 89 642723-24
ambulanz@klinik-menterschwaige.de
Opening hours: Registration by telephone during office hours. Emergencies: +49 89 642723-0.
Catchment area: Munich South, Harlaching and adjacent districts. Referral required. Psychodynamic individual and group therapy as a special service.
klinik-menterschwaige.de (in German) →kbo — Tagesklinik und Institutsambulanz Berg am Laim (day clinic and outpatient clinic)
Neumarkter Straße 18 · 81673 München
+49 89 212622-111
tagesklinik-ost.iak-bal@kbo.de
Catchment area: Munich East — Berg am Laim, Ramersdorf, Giesing and adjacent districts.
Services: General psychiatry. Old-age psychiatry outpatient clinic at the same location: +49 89 212622-175.
kbo-iak.de (in German) →Finding a Psychiatrist in Private Practice
Practice-based psychiatrists offer more continuous care than PIAs — but are considerably harder to access. Waiting times of several months are not the exception in Munich. If you need help urgently, you should consider the PIA option first.
Searching via 116117
On arztsuche.116117.de (in German), filter for “Facharzt für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie” (specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy). Only doctors accredited with the statutory health insurance are listed.
To the doctor search →What to look for
The specialist title “Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie” means that both medication and psychotherapy can be offered. Neurologists alone are not a substitute. If the distinction is unclear: ask directly.
Realistic waiting times
Waiting times of two to six months are realistic. If you cannot wait that long, contact a PIA in parallel. PIA treatment and practice-based psychiatric treatment are mutually exclusive within the same quarter.
Acute situation — act immediately
Atriumhaus (Bavariastraße 11, 24/7), LMU Klinikum psychiatric emergency department (Nußbaumstraße 7, 24/7) or Krisendienst Bayern (+49 800 655 3000). No appointment needed.
When both are necessary
There are situations in which psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment are useful or necessary at the same time. This is not an exception — for some patients it is precisely the right combination.
In my practice, I coordinate with psychiatric colleagues where needed. This means: I make sure that the psychiatric side — where it is necessary — does not stand disconnected alongside the psychotherapy. There is an exchange, with the patient’s consent, of course. Psychiatric treatment and psychotherapeutic work can support each other — indeed they must, if the treatment is to succeed.
If you are in an initial consultation with me and wondering whether you also need psychiatric support: we clarify that together. It is part of the diagnostic assessment that stands at the beginning of every treatment.
- The GKV (statutory health insurance) covers both psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment — both at the same time is possible and recognised
- Psychotherapy and PIA treatment are mutually exclusive within the same quarter — alongside a practice-based psychiatrist, parallel treatment is possible
- Hospital treatment (Atriumhaus, LMU) can also be used during an ongoing psychotherapy
- Talking to your treating psychotherapist about the psychiatric contact is advisable
Seeking psychiatric care is not a weakness — it is a decision in favour of your own mental health. Finding the right places to turn to is often more laborious than it should be. This page is meant to make that a little easier.