Psychiatry

"Health", says Gadamer, "is the self-forgetful giving away of oneself to life.". Every now and then we are torn out of a carefree state and dejection, fear, restlessness, sleepless nights, and being torn and confused determine our everyday lives.

Some can get through many of these inevitable life situations with their own strength, others with the help of our family or friends. Occasionally we also need professional help. This can be the family doctor, the psychiatrist, or even the Ward of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy in Geesthacht with day clinics in Schwarzenbek and Mölln and associated outpatient clinics.

Mental illnesses are part of everyday life. Hardly anyone has not heard of "depression" and many know from their own experience what it feels like to be depressed. Some suffer from anxiety and quite a few have become dependent on alcohol, medication, or even drugs.

Some of us know people from our own family, neighbourhood or colleagues who have gone off the rails, become psychotic, and need psychiatric treatment.

Although psychiatric illnesses are part of our everyday life, we also have an aversion to dealing with this topic. We are afraid of being declared crazy by our fellow citizens and of being considered insane. "He belongs in a nuthouse," was the saying in the past. In the meantime, psychiatric care has changed fundamentally over the last 30 years.

The psychiatric department at the Kankenhaus Geesthacht has offered inpatient, day-care, and outpatient psychiatric, psychosomatic, and psychotherapeutic treatment since 1996.