Human-Friedrich UNTERRAINER

Professorial Teaching Fellow 

human.unterrainer@univie.ac.at  

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Human-Friedrich Unterrainer teaches Psychology of Religion at the Department of Religious Studies since 2014. He is a Clinical and Health Psychologist and Psychotherapist (Integrative Gestalttherapy; psychodynamic approach). He is Professor of Psychotherapy Science at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna. In addition, he acts as the scientific director of the "Center for Integrative Addiction Research (CIAR)", Grüner Kreis Society and as a Privatdozent at the Universities of Graz and Vienna, as well as in private practice. He holds an M.Sc. in Psychology (2002) (Mag. rer. nat.) in the field of clinical psychology of religion at the University of Graz. Furthermore, he holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (2005; University of Graz) and Medical Sciences: Psychiatry (2008; Medical University of Graz,). He obtained his Habilitation in Psychology in 2012 from the University of Graz. The topic of his thesis was "Religious/Spiritual Well-being, Personality and Mental Health: A Review of Results and Conceptual Issues". In 2016, he finished his second Habilitation project entitled "Addiction as an Attachment Disorder: A Neuro-Psychodynamic Perspective" (Medical University of Graz). In 2010, he was awarded a diploma in Advanced Studies in Psychology of Religion (University of Vienna in co-operation with the University of Leuven, Belgium). In the same year, he was employed for two terms as a Visiting Scientific Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, UK. In 2021, he obtained his third Habilitation in the Psychology of Religion through the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Vienna with a professorial thesis entitled "The Multidimensional Measurement of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being: Recent Developments in Scale Validation and Clinical Applications." His research interests are focused on substance use disorders, neuroscientific methods in psychotherapy, attachment and personality, spirituality and mental health, and test construction. Human-Friedrich Unterrainer lives in Vienna and he is interested in art in general and in music in particular.