Psychotherapists are sounding the alarm
“Many colleagues are considering giving back their cash register seat”
July 9, 2026 – 12:17 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
Psychotherapists are up in arms against the austerity measures planned by the federal government. The consequences for patients could be serious.
There is great frustration among psychotherapists in Germany. They went for weeks against a planned reduction in their fees on the street, warned of a deterioration in the care of patients with mental illnesses – in vain. “We weren’t taken seriously,” says aspiring psychotherapist Alice Jordan from the Psychotherapy Action Alliance. “Instead, we’re now taking things up a notch.”
It’s all a question of budget
To understand this, you have to look at how therapists have been paid so far – and how that should change in the future. Currently, most of the services provided by therapists are not subject to a budget: what is provided is also paid for by health insurance companies.
This should change in the future: the services of psychotherapists should in future be included in the so-called morbidity-related total remuneration. To put it simply, the cumbersome term hides the budget that the health insurance companies make available to the statutory health insurance associations for the outpatient treatment of the insured. For the therapists, but also other doctors, this means: What is done is paid for by the health insurance companies – but only as long as the budget is sufficient. If this runs out, the fees will be reduced. In this case, the doctor works for a reduced salary or even for free.
According to surveys by the Robert Koch Institute, in 2024 a total of 22 percent of adults in Germany had depressive symptoms and 14 percent had anxiety symptoms. Studies by insurance companies show that mental illnesses are by far the main cause of occupational disability.
Psychotherapy is “actually destroyed”
If the adequacy test is now canceled, the consequences will be serious, professional representatives are now warning. “The Statutory Health Insurance Contribution Rate Stabilization Act threatens to deprive psychotherapeutic practices of their economic foundations,” warns Andrea Benecke, President of the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists. Psychotherapy is being “actually destroyed,” criticizes Dieter Adler, chairman of the German Psychotherapist Network.
For Jordan from the Psychotherapy Action Alliance, the effects of the legal changes are far more serious than the fee cut in the spring. “The therapy is not only restricted, it is practically made impossible.” Without a lower limit on fees, it is impossible to operate a practice economically – there is simply a lack of the necessary planning ability.
