Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Psychotherapy

The Phase I study was concluded at the end of 2025 with the publication of: “Die Seele im Fadenkreuz von sozialen Medien und artifizieller Intelligenz – Mit einem Essay zum Dilemma der Psychoanalyse im 21. Jahrhundert” [The Soul in the Crosshairs of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence – With an Essay on the Dilemma of Psychoanalysis in the 21st Century], Böhland & Schremmer Verlag, 2025.

Work on Phase II of the investigation has been ongoing since the beginning of 2026. In Phase I, the analysis focused on the political, socio-psychological, and psychodynamic impacts of the fourth technological “revolution” in the guise of social networks and “weak” generative AI in the form of Large Language Models (LLMs). Phase II addresses the psychosocial and political consequences for the human condition (conditio humana) during the already ongoing transition from weak generative AI to the levels of strong Artificial Intelligence (AGI). The analysis of the emergent developments in the fields of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis is concretized with a specific focus on:

• The rapid technological developments toward autonomous, highly qualified, and empathetic AGI psychotherapy systems.
• The strategies for establishing machine therapy in the psychotherapy market.
• The status quo and the prospects for user/patient acceptance of avatar-based, empathetic AGI psychotherapy.

Duration: March 2026 to March 2029
Contact: Prof. Dr. Adrian Gaertner
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Research Cluster Humanoid Robots in Public Health

The Humanoid Robots project was started in 2021.

In a first section, the discussion on the evaluation of the use of HRs in general and in particular in the area of support, supply and care in the healthcare sector was received. It moves on very different levels. We are familiar with reports on studies, research projects, but also one-sided statements and comments. In addition, we have received expert opinions from competent experts from cooperating research institutions.

The subsequent evaluation of the IAPN came to the conclusion that, at any rate, supplementary and supporting activities of the robots are unproblematic and ethically justifiable. With increasing autonomy, ethical questions arise for the programs and algorithms, as in the case of autonomous cars, which still need to be clarified.
First of all, this relates to the labor force argument. Everywhere in Germany, especially in the field of nursing, there is a massive shortage of workers. Robots would therefore not replace them, but at least compensate for a massive shortage to some extent. With regard to the people to be cared for and looked after, skeptical voices can also be heard. However, there is predominantly acceptance, as has already been shown by active examples (Paro the seal, Nao the play robot, Pepper the communication robot). At this stage of the project, the different functions of HRs were analyzed and differentiated.

For this area of application, the academy has compiled a catalog of tasks, a kind of specification sheet, which lists the required services of such a robot from the perspective of possible customers, i.e. operators of the relevant facilities. This list is based on the activities of daily living that are considered standard in the care sector.

At the same time, the Academy has compiled information on all humanoid robots that have been developed and are being developed in recent years. This starts in the 2000s, especially in Japan and the USA, and continues with enormous progress up to the current present. In the meantime, such robots are also being developed in China, Hong Kong, India, and not least in Germany.
Great progress has been made in two respects.

On the one hand, with regard to the pragmatic performance of robots in terms of sensors, sensitivity, mobility, handling and dealing with things and people. This is currently being massively increased by the growing use of artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, with regard to their receptive and effective communicative abilities. The latest developments of communication of humans with machines by means of artificial intelligence, exemplified by ChatGPT, are impressive. Without a doubt, such communication can enable machines to understand and carry out differentiated tasks and instructions and, in turn, to communicate with humans in a reactive/active manner in an inquiring or also proactively prompting manner.
By way of example, we will name the models that we consider to be the most advanced. These are Ameca, Erica, Sophia, Atlas, Jia JiaApollo/Vakyrie, Jubot, Garmi, Apollo and Optimus.

Humanoid robots will not act as individual figures in an otherwise unchanged environment. This will also be possible, but it does not exploit the potentials that exist in interaction with a digitized environment. Thus, it is easy to imagine that routines will be programmed, that individual orders will be given via digital commands, that monitoring of successful work will occur automatically and will be additionally monitored at a control center, that possible error messages will be forwarded directly to an intervention center, and more. Equally appropriate is the embedding in a suitable structural milieu that can make optimal use of the HRs’ work.

In this context, the advantages compared to human workers were updated and compiled based on the current state of development. This seemed sensible and appropriate because the media debates predominantly accentuate the risks of using these robots and much less the advantages. These advantages of humanoid robots are:

• They can be set up for any known language and do not need to learn it first
• they are not subject to mood swings, are not bad-tempered, spiteful, inattentive, exhausted or ill
• In principle, they can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, i.e. 168 hours a week, four times the work of a human worker.
• they do not need vacation and have no absenteeism due to sick leave, which combined averages about two out of every twelve months per year
• the “resilience” and endurance of HRs also brings economic benefits compared to human staff, depending on the cost of acquisition and operation.
• all their competencies and operability, their shape, design, feel, smell, and all their graces can be designed and modified according to need and desire, and according to milieu-specific and culture-specific acceptance
• they are not infectious and do not transmit diseases

There are now numerous institutions in Germany that are using humanoid robots on a trial basis or permanently for care and communication.

We have contacted some of these institutions and, through on-site visits, discussions with their representatives, and an overview of research findings on acceptance and impact, have learned that the supportive use of these robots is undoubtedly helpful and beneficial.

In drafts and concepts designed to further expand on this work, we have identified the specific requirements that must be met by these robots and their successors—the next generation, so to speak. This applies in particular to their communication skills and sensor technology. The former have improved dramatically in recent years through the use of artificial intelligence and language models.

As for sensor technology in interactions with humans, there is still considerable potential for development. In a subsequent research phase, the latest robot models will be examined and tested. This includes models from Germany, the U.S., and China that have been developed and introduced over the past two years.

Further information:

Light and Dark Communication

Communication, whether analog or digital, always exists on a spectrum of relation to reality. On one side is the enlightened intention to come as close as possible to the truth in order to communicate truthfully with others about reality. On the other hand is the manipulative intent to effectively deceive others about reality and about themselves, regardless of the truth. While the former is the aspiration of philosophy, the latter is the aspiration of warfare, politics, and perhaps also the business world.

Drawing on C. G. Jung’s image of the shadow—which always follows us humans as our dark side and from which we cannot detach ourselves—and guided by the image of yin and yang, the union of opposites embodied in the image of the light and dark half-moons, we speak of light and dark communication. In the tradition of the Enlightenment, light communication strives, with the aid of causal and statistical methods, to determine what is truly the case. Dark communication, on the other hand, confuses with its multitude of so-called narratives for the manipulative purposes of political and media influence, and leads people astray toward arbitrariness, mood-driven behavior, and wrong decisions.

The project conducts research into philosophical, social science, communication psychology, and social psychology literature and research reports on these topics. It has built up an extensive collection on this subject and carried out numerous diverse individual analyses of specific cases. It is continuously advancing research, particularly on so-called “dark communication”—which, as the name suggests, tends to remain hidden—and offers training and continuing education in this area.

Further information:

Psychological and Psychosomatic Illnesses in Young Musicians

A Psychoanalytic-Social Psychological Pilot Study

In the German-speaking countries, there are currently 20 institutions for performing arts medicine/musicians’ health at universities of music. In Germany alone, there are 14 institutes, some of which conduct research in addition to operating outpatient clinics for diagnostics, therapy, and counseling. Furthermore, there are research departments at the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt and at the Kronberg Academy.

The spectrum of musicians’ illnesses is exceptionally broad. It ranges from musculoskeletal disorders (playing-related musculoskeletal disorders”, PRMD) such as cervical spine syndrome and shoulder-arm syndrome (cervicobrachialgia), to inflammatory diseases like tendovaginitis, arthritis of the finger joints, and carpal tunnel syndrome, all the way to hearing damage, acoustic trauma, and neurological disorders such as musician’s dystonia. Among psychological disorders in the narrower sense, studies mention an increased prevalence of depression in musicians, performance anxiety, and occasionally overexertion syndrome caused by excessively intensive practicing. Other widespread symptom clusters, such as eating disorders (bulimia/anorexia/hyperphagia), self-harming behavior, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, are not adequately taken into account.

Two problems characterize the current state of research on musicians’ illnesses:

1. As is evident in the review of research findings in the field of PRMD by (L. Cerda-Díaz, M. Antúnez-Riveros et al., 2026), research results on the prevalence and incidence of musicians’ illnesses vary extremely: between 39% and 93%, with women, string players, and pianists being more severely affected.
2. In contrast to somatic clinical pictures, psychological and especially psychosomatic problem areas are significantly underrepresented in research. This is despite the fact that clinical experience suggests all the somatic disorders listed above result in psychological and/or psychosomatic symptoms almost without exception.

Subject and Method of the Study

Two aspects are at the forefront of this study:

1. The biographical development of the subjects in familial and extra-familial contexts, with special consideration of the role/significance of musical instrument training for the psychological and social development of the personality during childhood, puberty, and adolescence.
2. The differentiated examination of the development of pathogenic somatic and psychological disorders over the course of the biography, with special consideration of the specific physical and mental demands associated with artistic training.

Methodologically, the study is based on the systematic evaluation of developmentally focused, psychoanalytic in-depth interviews with young adults enrolled in university-level music studies. The subjects will be recruited via corresponding notices posted at universities of music. The in-depth interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed. Subsequently, they will be sequentially analyzed and condensed into case hypotheses using the method of objective hermeneutics developed by Ulrich Oevermann. Following this, the case hypotheses will be used to develop typological desiderata regarding the emergence and psychodynamics of psychological and psychosomatic burdens and risk factors on the one hand, and coping and resilience factors that manifest during music studies on the other.

In total, approximately 40 study participants—primarily string players and pianists enrolled in bachelor’s or master’s programs at various universities of music—will be included in the investigation.

Study duration: April 2026 to December 2028
Further information:

Cultural analysis research cluster: China project

The Academy has been engaged in research on China for years. A series of research questions has been developed in this context. In 2023, parts of this work and its findings were published. Professor Wolf published them under the title “China’s Renaissance: On the Art of Remaining the Same and Changing Rapidly” with LIT-Verlag in Münster/ Germany.

In addition to the substantive questions, we have also focused on the social-psychological aspect. China continues to serve as a projection screen for the negative perceptions and prejudices held here in Germany. As a result, there are three main strands of scholarly and journalistic literature on China: one that takes a more culturally analytical and empathetic approach (mostly sinologists), one that is highly critical of China and tends toward polemics (mostly journalists and politicians), and a middle ground, so to speak, that is—or aspires to be—both empathetic and critical.

China’s rapid development toward regional or even global dominance in economic and technological terms is addressed by only a few authors without such projections and projective disparagements and condemnations. Examples include *China First* by Theo Sommer (2019), *Understanding China* by Robert Fitztum (2019), *The Chinese* by Stefan Baron and Guangyan Yin-Baron (2019), and *The Chinese Century* by Wolfram Elsner (2020). Others, however, take an empathetic approach and reveal the contours of China’s new position in the world—within a “new world order,” as Henry Kissinger (2014) exemplarily calls it. Or they consistently provide respectful coverage of recent developments in China, including in the technological and scientific spheres, as Wolfgang Hirn does on his website “chinahirn.”

The time horizon plays a major role in these differing perspectives. The German lawyer and sinologist Harro von Senger, who has also presented detailed analyses of “Sinomarxism”, focuses on the specific time horizon of social, economic, and political developments in China. In his work titled “Supraplanning” (2008), he illustrates the time horizons underlying the planning of economic, social, and political developments in China. These horizons are incomparably broader than those familiar in Europe or the U.S., where short-term planning perspectives often take precedence due to a focus on short-term returns or upcoming elections. China, on the other hand, is already planning its level of development for the year 2049, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s victory over the Kuomintang.

In light of the latest economic and technological developments, a perspective on China free of prejudice seems the only realistic approach. Niall Ferguson, Dambisa Moyo, Parag Khanna, Martin Jacques, and others (see Wolf’s book on China, 2023) assume that Asia—and China in particular—could serve as a more attractive model than the “West” for many countries undergoing modernization processes, and that this is one reason why China will become the world’s leading power in the coming decades.

Technologically speaking, China has now caught up with or even surpassed the U.S. in many areas. For this reason, the “Project China” initiative will initially research and trace the transformation of the Chinese economy into a high-tech economy. One example of the Chinese economy’s shift toward a high-tech economy is the development of China’s high-speed trains and their now significant technological lead over the systems it once modeled itself after. More broadly, it is the development of the metropolis of Shenzhen into a highly electrified and automated, digitally controlled, and at the same time climate-friendly urban agglomeration.

The themes of creativity and innovation play a central role in this context. In Wolf’s book, as well as in the works of other authors, the question is raised as to whether creativity has sufficient potential for development in a society that tends toward authoritarianism. This critical thesis is countered by another, which AI expert Kai-Fu Lee addressed in his book by pointing to the extremely fierce competition. This competition—even within China—forces companies to come up with innovative and creative solutions to problems in order to succeed. As a result, they are just as innovative as they are competitive in other markets.

The same currently applies to robotics, and specifically to humanoid robots. Whereas in the past—as we have determined in our research and outlined in the present reports—Japan, Hong Kong, and even the U.S. and some other companies and countries were leading the way, robotics companies from China are now at the forefront.

Focusing on this specific topic thus deepens and broadens our perspective on recent and current technological and economic developments in China, and it is closely linked to the humanoid robot research cluster, as development in this area is currently advancing rapidly in China.

Further information: