Principles of Self-Experience

Requirements according to the Specialty Training Regulations (WBO):

• 120 hours of individual self-experience at €100 each
• 40 double sessions of group self-experience at €50 each

Calculation: 48 months in the specialty in a 100% position

• This means 30 individual sessions per year
• This amounts to a total of €3,000 per year 
   
• 10 hours of group self-experience per year
• This amounts to a total of €500 per year 
   
• The total annual cost is therefore €3,500

There are 2 options for covering these costs as an employer providing specialist training

• The employer directly covers the invoices up to a maximum amount per year. 

In this case, the authorized training physicians assist in coordinating the process within the overall specialist training plan.

• The employer pays a 13th monthly salary to cover the costs, which results in a favorable calculation for physicians in training based on a gross employee salary of €5,800.

In this case, the physicians in training are responsible for managing the process. If costs accumulate due to their own actions, complaints about insufficient cost coverage are no longer justified.

It is more cost-effective for both parties for the employer to cover invoices, for example up to €4,000 per year. Over four years, this covers all costs of self-experience.

Under the 13th-month salary model, part of the additional payment goes toward taxes and social security contributions.

Selection of the Self-Experience Facilitator

Self-experience facilitators are never part of the employing institution and are always independent.

Self-experience facilitators must be approved by the authorized training physicians.

Upon approval, physicians in training are released from their contractual confidentiality obligations regarding the business secrets of the training institution.

If physicians in training choose a facilitator entirely freely without approval, they are in breach of their employment contract.

Structure of Self-Experience

Authorized training physicians are required to ensure that physicians in training have access to all required training content within the designated period. This gives rise to both the obligation and the authority to structure self-experience as well.

The WBO requires continuous self-experience. This means up to 30 sessions per year, corresponding to one individual self-experience session every one to two weeks over a period of four years.

Integrated Specialist Training for the Additional Qualification in Psychoanalysis

In this case, there is no obligation for the employer providing specialist training to cover the costs, but financing may be negotiated on a voluntary basis. 
According to the WBO, an additional 60 hours of individual self-experience and 20 double sessions of group self-experience are required. 
The additional self-experience hours could, for example, be integrated effectively around the middle of the specialist training period by increasing the frequency to 2 hours per week for approximately one year. 

The total financing required for the additional hours is  
€6,000 for individual self-experience and  
€1,000 for group self-experience,  
for a total of €7,000.
Spread over five years, this represents an additional cost of €1,400 per year.

This could, for example, even be included in the 13th-month salary arrangement described above.

Any additional self-experience beyond this amount undertaken by physicians in training must be paid for by the physicians themselves.

If it becomes apparent that there are serious reasons requiring an increase in the necessary amount of self-experience, the self-experience facilitator must report this as early as possible. This allows a timely decision to be made regarding the suitability of the physician in training and the continuation of specialist training, thereby preventing unforeseeable financial risks for either the employer providing specialist training or the physician in training.