Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz

Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz
Director, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte

Interests: Andreas Heinz studied medicine, philosophy, and anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and Howard University in Washington, D.C.. His research in neurourban studies focuses on the effects of migration and social exclusion on mental health and on the consequences of poverty and unemployment in the social neighbourhood context. The research group at the Charité observed that the extent of poverty in the neighborhood, indirectly determined by the number of welfare recipients in the neighborhood, was significantly associated with psychological stress of the residents living in Berlin inner city. This correlation was also significant when individual factors such as the wealth and educational background of each person were excluded. Such interactions were particularly pronounced among people with a migration background, which may indicate that belonging to a socially less well-off group is associated with increased psychological stress (Gruebner et al. Cities and Mental Health, Deutsches Ärzteblatt International 2017). Further research focuses on the impact of urban risk factors on the manifestation of psychotic and addictive disorders (Heinz, A New Understanding of Mental Disorders, MIT Press 2017).