Startseite English Tenth International Conference on Treatment of Addictive Behaviors

Tenth International Conference on Treatment of Addictive Behaviors

September 4th – 8th, 2003, Heidelberg, Germany

German Society of Addiction Psychology (GSAP)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Suchtpsychologie e.V. (dg sps)
Bundesgeschäftsstelle

Wörthstrasse 10
D-50668 Köln (Cologne)
Germany

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Internet: www.suchtpsychologie.de

President: Prof. Dr. Michael Klein (Cologne)

(Update: September 2003)

The German Society of Addiction Psychology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Suchtpsychologie e.V.; dg sps) was founded in 2000. It is the only psychological society within the field of addiction matters in Europe and pleads psychologists` cause in Germany.

It is estimated that there are 1,500 psychologists working full-time in the field of addiction therapy, prevention or research in Germany. Many others are confronted with addictive behavior problems in their daily work, too. Our society has more than 100 members in the meantime, many of them researchers and employees in leading positions in inpatient or outpatient treatment facilities.

One of the main goals of the German Society of Addiction Psychology (GSAP) is to strengthen the psychological view on addictive processes. This has been underlined by important innovations stemming from Psychology, e.g. cognitive behavior therapy, Motivational Interviewing, family therapy etc.

Our society sees addiction psychology as one of the major emerging areas of psychology which has been traditionally neglected by universities and politicians, though there is an enormous impact on prevention and treatment of addictive disorders. On the other hand, the improvement of interdisciplinary cooperation and research is one of the major concerns of this specialists` society. Specific goals of the German Society of Addiction Psychology (GSAP) are:

  • further improving of scientific quality of addiction psychology and enhancing transfer of addiction psychology to the practice of prevention and treatment of addictive behaviors
  • dissemination of results and knowledge  of psychological addiction research in form of congresses, conferences, seminars, trainings, publications etc.
  • supporting outpatient addiction treatment in Germany (above all by Psychological Psychotherapists)
  • advising public and political organizations in areas of social and health politics
  • enhancing public relations in regard to topics of addiction psychology (official statements, answering of media questions, creating information material etc.)
  • supporting professional information exchange between all disciplines in the areas of addiction research and addiction treatment on a national and international level
  • bringing forth and accompanying innovations in addiction prevention and treatment.

There have been yearly conferences on themes of addiction psychology so far. In 2003, GSAP has been one of the co-organizers of ICTAB-10 in Heidelberg. In May 2004 there will be the next Addiction Psychology Conference on “Motivation and Behavior Change” in Berlin. The members of the society can participate in one of the working groups founded so far. These are (1) Training and qualification in addiction psychology, (2) Psychological management of addiction treatment facilities, (3) psychology of gender aspects in the field of addiction, (4) Network on German psychological addiction research, (5) psychology of tobacco abuse and dependence, and (6) the psychology of psychological dependence. Each of the working group is coordinated by one of the members of the managing committee. In the near future the GSAP will try to initiate a European initiative to found a comparative society on the EU-level in order to cooperate with colleagues all over Europe. Further activities of GSAP are:

  • Newsletter for members
  • Publications in “Suchttherapie” (Addiction Therapy)
  • Guidelines relevant to topics of addiction psychology
  • Virtual expert-network (internet).

The German Society of Addiction Psychology (GSAP) is open for psychologists interested in the progress of addiction psychology in Germany and Europe.

The GSAP has a special website (http://www.suchtpsychologie.de; also access possible through http://addiction.de) in German. Currently the society is managed by the president (Prof. Dr. Michael Klein, Koeln), and two vice-presidents (Prof. Dr. Angela Winkler, Ludwigsburg; Dr. Theo Wessel, Coburg).