Mental Health Licensing & Regulation in Austria: 2026 Guide

If you are choosing a psychologist or a psychotherapist in Austria, for yourself or for someone in your family, it helps to know that these are regulated professions with real entry requirements. The law says who may use each title, who decides, and what you can ask to see. This guide sets out what the governing statutes actually require, and the one practical check that follows from them.

How mental-health practitioners are regulated in Austria, in short

Austria does not treat mental-health work as a single profession. It regulates several distinct ones, each under its own federal Act, and each with its own route in. Psychologists fall under the Psychologengesetz 2013. Psychotherapists fall under the Psychotherapiegesetz 2024, a recent reform. Doctors, including psychiatrists, fall under the Aerztegesetz.

That structure matters more than it first appears. Two practitioners can both work with distress, both be properly qualified, and still hold entirely different legal permissions. So the useful question is not whether someone sounds professional. It is which Act they are registered under.

Who may call themselves a psychologist

The general designation comes first. Under the Psychologengesetz, a person may use the Bezeichnung "Psychologin" or "Psychologe" once they have successfully completed a course of study in psychology amounting to at least 300 ECTS credits at a recognised post-secondary institution.³ That is a long academic training, roughly a full undergraduate degree followed by a master's.

The Act recognises qualifications from beyond Austria as well. A degree from a recognised institution in another EU member state, in another party to the EWR-Abkommens (the EEA Agreement), or in the Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (Switzerland) satisfies the same requirement.³ This matters in a country where many practitioners train across borders.

Being a psychologist in that general sense is not the same as being a clinical psychologist. Clinical psychology is a separate, narrower entitlement, with its own register and its own protected title.

The clinical psychologist title, and the official list behind it

Entry is a formal act of the state, not a private accreditation. A person who meets the statutory requirements is entered by the Bundesminister for health in the Berufsliste as a Klinische Psychologin or Klinischer Psychologe.⁴ The decision rests with the ministry.

Refusal is equally formal, which is what gives the list its weight. Where an applicant does not meet the requirements, the ministry refuses the Eintragung by written decision, and may first obtain an expert opinion from the committee of the Psychologenbeirat.⁴ A register that can refuse an entry is a register worth checking.

The protected title then follows from the entry. A person entered in the list and entitled to practise independently must use the Berufsbezeichnung, the professional title, "Klinische Psychologin", "Klinischer Psychologe" or "Klinische:r Psycholog:in" when practising the profession. The same provision requires the place of freelance practice to be marked by displaying (Anbringung) at least the practitioner's name (Namens) and that professional title.⁵

That marking requirement has a practical consequence. The name and title shown at a practice point to an entry on a list, and that list is public, so you can go and look at it yourself.

Psychotherapists are a separate regulated profession

Psychotherapy has its own statute, and it was rewritten recently.

The Act sets the titles directly. A person entitled under it to practise psychotherapy independently must use the Berufsbezeichnung "Psychotherapeutin", "Psychotherapeut" or "Psychotherapeut:in" when practising. Practitioners may then add the orientation (Ausrichtung), or Cluster, learned in their Ausbildung,⁶ so a fuller description is permitted but the core title is fixed.

The training route is demanding and now sits largely inside the university system. Someone intending to practise psychotherapy independently must complete three stages of training and then pass a qualifying examination, the Psychotherapeutische Approbationspruefung. The first is a Bachelorstudium of at least 180 ECTS credits. The second is a Masterstudium in psychotherapy of at least 120 ECTS credits. The third is a postgraduate Fachausbildung, specialist training, at Psychotherapeutischen Fachgesellschaften,⁷ part of which must be completed after entry in the Berufsliste (Psychotherapie), so an entry on that register does not by itself mean the training is finished.

Read plainly, that is many years of study before independent practice. It is a reasonable thing to ask a prospective therapist about, and the Act gives you the vocabulary to ask precisely.

Psychiatrists are doctors

A psychiatrist in Austria is first a physician, and medicine is a reserved activity. Under the Aerztegesetz, the practice of the medical profession (Ausübung des ärztlichen Berufes) covers every activity founded on medical and scientific knowledge (medizinisch-wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen) carried out on or for a person. The Act names the examination "auf das Vorliegen oder Nichtvorliegen von körperlichen und psychischen Krankheiten oder Störungen". It also names the assessment (Beurteilung) of those states using medical diagnostic aids (medizinisch-diagnostischer Hilfsmittel).⁸

What the Aerztegesetz reserves to doctors is medical work: examining a person for the presence or absence of physical and psychological illnesses or disorders, assessing those states with medical diagnostic aids, treating them, and prescribing remedies and medical aids. Clinical psychologists are not confined to treatment. The official clinical-psychologist register lists "Klinisch-psychologische Diagnostik", clinical-psychological diagnosis, among the areas of practice a registered clinical psychologist can be listed under. Psychotherapy is regulated separately again, under the Psychotherapiegesetz.

If someone is admitted to hospital

One more statute matters here, because it applies at the hardest moments. The Unterbringungsgesetz applies to hospitals and to psychiatric and child-and-adolescent-psychiatric departments in which people are held in a closed area or otherwise subject to restrictions of their freedom of movement. It opens by stating that the personality rights of people with mental illness (psychisch Kranker) admitted to a hospital (Krankenanstalt) are to be specially protected.⁹

This Bundesgesetz requires that the human dignity of psychisch Kranker be respected and safeguarded in all circumstances. Restrictions of those personality rights are permitted only where expressly provided in constitutional law, in this Bundesgesetz, or in other statutory provisions (gesetzlichen Vorschriften).⁹

If you are supporting a family member through an admission, that is the framework standing behind their treatment, and those rights do not depend on anyone's goodwill.

The two public lists you can actually search

The lists behind those titles are not internal paperwork. Austria publishes both of them, and anyone can search them.

Clinical psychologists have their own search, the "Liste der Klinischen Psychologinnen und Klinischen Psychologen".¹ Psychotherapists have a separate one, the "Berufsliste (Psychotherapie)". The psychotherapy search takes a Familien-/Nachname and a Vorname, surname and first name.² The clinical-psychologist search has the same two fields, Familien-/Nachname and Vorname. So the check works even if all you have is a name from a website.

The psychotherapy search does more than confirm a name

It filters by the four method groups the profession is now organised into: "Psychoanalytisch-Psychodynamische Therapie", "Humanistische Therapie", "Systemische Therapie" and "Verhaltenstherapie".² You can also narrow to a single named method within those groups.

Three further filters are easy to miss. You can filter by "Fremdsprache", the foreign language a therapist works in, a list running from "Albanisch" to "Ungarisch". It includes "Gebärdensprache", sign language. You can filter by "Barrierefrei", the accessibility of the practice. And you can narrow by "Bundesland", postcode, town or street.²

The clinical-psychologist search has filters of its own

It narrows by Arbeitsschwerpunkte, the areas of work a clinical psychologist is listed under, with entries such as "Klinisch-psychologische Diagnostik", "Angst- und Panikstörungen", "Demenzielle Erkrankungen" and "Tod, Trauer, Abschied, Verluste". A separate Spezialisierungen filter lists Gerontopsychologie, Kinder-, Jugend- und Familienpsychologie, Klinische Neuropsychologie, Notfallpsychologie, Schmerzpsychologie and Traumapsychologie. Zielgruppen narrows by age group (Säuglinge, Kleinkinder, Kinder, Jugendliche, Erwachsene, Ältere Menschen) and Settings by Gruppen, Familie, Paare or Einzel. You can also filter by Fremdsprache, the foreign language someone works in, and by Bundesland, postcode, town or street.

So the official register is not only the place to confirm someone is registered. It is also a practical way to find a registered therapist who works in your language, in your area, in a building you can get into.

Quick reference

Whichever practitioner you are seeing, the same step applies. Ask which Act they practise under and which register holds their entry, and treat that entry, rather than the wording on a website, as the confirmation that they may practise.

Team TherapyRoute

References

1. [1] Republic of Austria, "Liste der Klinischen Psychologinnen und Klinischen Psychologen - Suche" — the official public search of the clinical-psychologist list, separate from the psychotherapy list. Searchable by Familien-/Nachname and Vorname and filterable by Fremdsprache. klinischepsychologie.ehealth.gv.at.
2. [2] Republic of Austria, "Berufsliste (Psychotherapie) - Suche" — the official public search of the psychotherapy professional list. Searchable by Familien-/Nachname and Vorname, and filterable by Zusatzbezeichnung (Psychoanalytisch-Psychodynamische Therapie, Humanistische Therapie, Systemische Therapie, Verhaltenstherapie), by individual psychotherapeutische Methode, by Fremdsprache including Gebärdensprache, by Barrierefrei, and by Bundesland, Postleitzahl, Ort and Straße. psychotherapie.ehealth.gv.at.
3. [3] Psychologengesetz 2013 (Austria, RIS) - § 4: who may use the designation "Psychologin"/"Psychologe" (a completed psychology degree of at least 300 ECTS credits). ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe.
4. [4] Psychologengesetz 2013 (Austria, RIS) - § 28: entry in the Berufsliste as a Klinische Psychologin / Klinischer Psychologe is made by the Federal Minister for Health; applicants who do not meet the requirements are refused by formal decision (Bescheid). ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe.
5. [5] Psychologengesetz 2013 (Austria, RIS) - § 29: a person entered in the list of Klinische Psychologinnen und Klinische Psychologen and entitled to independent practice must use the professional title "Klinische Psychologin" / "Klinischer Psychologe". ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe.
6. [6] Psychotherapiegesetz 2024 (Austria, Bundesgesetzblatt I Nr. 49/2024 via RIS) - professional and additional titles for psychotherapists under the new Act. ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2024/49.
7. [7] Psychotherapiegesetz 2024 (Austria, BGBl I 49/2024 via RIS) - s 10: the three-stage training required for independent practice of psychotherapy (bachelor of at least 180 ECTS, master of at least 120 ECTS, then postgraduate specialist training at psychotherapeutic professional societies). ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2024/49.
8. [8] Aerztegesetz 1998 (Austria, RIS) - the practice of medicine is reserved to doctors and covers activity founded on medical-scientific knowledge, including examination and treatment. ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe.
9. [9] Unterbringungsgesetz 1990 (Austria, RIS) - the Act governing psychiatric departments where people may be held in a closed area or otherwise restricted in their freedom of movement, and their rights. ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe.