Institute for Synergetics and Psychotherapy Research
Mission & SNS

The institute researches change processes in complex bio-psycho-social systems, with a particular focus on the scientific development and practical application of the internet-based Synergetic Navigation System (SNS) for process monitoring and control. Automated time series analyses are conducted both within the system and on extensive datasets outside the system.

The Synergetic Navigation System (SNS)

The research is grounded in theory and methods related to complex dynamic systems, particularly synergetics (the science of self-organization in complex systems) and chaos theory. Key projects include:

• Dynamics of psychotherapy processes (including repeated functional MRI (fMRI) scans)
• Studying neural connectivity and synchronization in mental disorders, aiming to combine Coordinated Reset Stimulation (developed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Tass, Jülich) with psychotherapy.
• Practice of process feedback and control in psychotherapy and counseling, and their effects.
• Analysis of the dynamic patterns in therapies with varying success rates, different diagnoses, as well as other relationships between process and outcome characteristics.
• Development of a theoretical model to understand psychotherapeutic processes, formalized as a system of equations to enable computer simulations of therapy processes.
• Creation of an early warning system for suicidal and other crises.

The institute collaborates with various clinics and universities in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, and Denmark.