Rainer Matthias Holm-Hadulla

Rainer Matthias Holm-Hadulla (born September 22, 1951) is a German professor for psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.

Life Holm-Hadulla studied medicine and philosophy at the Universities of Marburg, Rome, and Heidelberg. During the period from 1976 until 1978, he worked as an assistant doctor. Since 1979 until 1986, he became a specialist in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy and an assistant professor at Heidelberg University.

From 1986 until 2016, he was the director of the counseling service for students at Heidelberg University and worked as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice. In 1996, he became an associate professor for psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic medicine at Heidelberg University. In 2009, Holm-Hadulla was appointed as a distinguished fellow to "Morphomata", International Center of Excellence for Advanced Studies at Cologne University. In 2010, he was appointed as a distinguished fellow to "Marsilius-Kolleg", Center of Excellence for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies at Heidelberg University. In 2011, he became a visiting professor at the Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile. In 2015, he was appointed to the Academia Argentina de Ciencias, Psychoanálisis y Psiqiuatría. Moreover, Holm-Hadulla frequently gave scientific lectures in North-America, South-America and China.

Since 2017, Holm-Hadulla continues to research and teach as an emeritus at Heidelberg University and as a guest professor at Universidad de Chile. He also teaches as a visiting professor at national and international universities, e.g. the Pop-Academy Baden-Württemberg, Mannheim.

In 2024 Holm-Hadulla was appointed as Honorary Member of the Chilean Academy of Medicine. In 2025 he was awarded the degree of "Doctor Honoris Causa en Derechos Humanos para la Paz."

His main areas of research are counseling, psychotherapy and creativity. He continuously informes about practical applications of his research in broadcast and radio stations, newspapers and journals.

Dialectical theory of creativity

Holm-Hadulla developed with his colleagues a dialectical theory of creativity. It starts with the antique concept, that creativity takes place in an interplay between order and chaos. Similar ideas can be found in neurosciences and psychology. Neurobiologically, it can be shown that the creative process takes place in a dynamic interplay between coherence and incoherence that leads to new and usable neuronal networks. Psychology shows how the dialectics of convergent and focused thinking with divergent and associative thinking leads to new ideas and products. Also creative personality traits seem to be contradictory, e.g. openness and selfishness, chaotic and disciplined attitudes, despondency and exuberance. Holm-Hadulla described the dialectics of creative personality traits on behalf of extraordinary personalities like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Robert Schumann, Jim Morrison, Madonna Ciccone and Mick Jagger. His dialectical theory of creativity applies also to counseling and psychotherapy.

Selected publications Books El Arte Psicoterapéutico - la hermenéutica como base de la acción terapéutica. Revised and expanded Spanish edition. Editorial Herder, Barcelona 1997, The Art of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Revised and expanded English edition. Karnac Books, London/New York 2004, Leidenschaft: Goethes Weg zur Kreativität. Eine Psychobiographie. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, Kreativität. Konzept und Lebensstil. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, Kreativität zwischen Schöpfung und Zerstörung. Konzepte aus Kulturwissenschaften, Psychologie, Neurobiologie und ihre praktischen Anwendungen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, Passione. Il cammino di Goethe verso la creatività. Una psicobiografia. Traduzione dal tedesco e cura di Antonio Staude, edizione rielaborata e accresciuta rispetto all'opera originale. Mimesis Edizioni, Milano 2016, * The Recovered Voice - Tales of Practical Psychotherapy. Karnac Books, London/New York 2017, Goethe's Path to Creativity: A Psycho-Biography of the Eminent Politician, Scientist and Poet. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2019, Integrative Psychotherapie. 2. ed., Psychosozial-Verlag, Gießen 2021, Psicoterapia Integrativa - Un modello interdisciplinare attraverso tredici racconti di pratica psycoterapeutica. Mimesis Edizioni, Milano 2022, The Creative Transformation of Despair, Hate and Violence - What we can learn from Madonna, Mick Jagger & Co. Springer International, Switzerland 2023,

Editor with Joachim Funke, Michael Wink: Intelligence - Theories and Applications, Springer Nature, London, Berlin, New York 2022.

Selected papers Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2003). "Psychoanalysis as a creative shaping process". The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 84, 1203–1220 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2005). "Aesthetic and hermeneutic judgements in psychotherapy". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 12, 297–299 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Roussel, M., & Hofmann, F. (2010). "Depression and creativity: The case of the German poet, scientist and statesman J. W. v. Goethe". Journal of Affective Disorders, 127 (1–3), 43–49 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2011). "Creatividad, Depresión y Psicoanálisis: el caso Goethe". Revista Argentina de Psicoanálisis, 58, 695–714 Holm-Hadulla R. M., Sperth M., & Hofmann F. (2011). "Integrative Counselling". Asian-Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2, 3–24 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2012). "Goethe's Anxieties, Depressive Episodes and (Self-) Therapeutic Strategies: A Contribution to Method Integration in Psychotherapy". Psychopathology, 46:266–274 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. & Hofmann, F. (2012). "Counselling, psychotherapy and creativity". Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling And Psychotherapy, 3, 130–136 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2013). "The Dialectic of Creativity: A Synthesis of Neurobiological, Psychological, Cultural and Practical Aspects of the Creative Process". Creativity Research Journal, 25(3), 293–299 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Bertolino, A. (2014). "Creativity, Alcohol and Drug Abuse: The Pop Icon Jim Morrison". Psychopathology, 47(3):167–173 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Koutsoukou-Argyraki, A. (2015). "Mental Health of Students in a Globalized World". Mental Health and Prevention, 3, 1–4 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Koutsoukou-Argyraki, A. (2016)."Integrative Psychotherapy of Patients with Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders: The Case of a Musician Suffering From Psychotic Episodes". Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 26(4):425-436 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Koutsoukou-Argyraki, A. (2017)."Bipolar Disorder and/or Creative Bipolarity: Robert Schumann's Exemplary Psychopathology". Psychopathology, 50(6):379-388 Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2019). "Sympathy for the Devil - The Creative Transformation of the Evil". Journal of Genius and Eminence, 5(1):1–11 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Wendt, AN (2020). Dialectical Thinking – Further Contributions to Creativity. In: Encylocpedia of Creativity, Runco, M. & Pritzker, S. (Eds.), Academic Press Holm-Hadulla, R. M. (2020). "Creativity and Positive Psychology in Psychotherapy." International Journal of Psychiatry, doi.org/10.1080/09540261 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Klimov, M., Juche, T., Möltner, A., Herpertz, SC. (2021). Well-Being and Mental Health of Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Psychopathology, doi10.1159/000519366 Holm-Hadulla, R. M., Mayer, C.H., Wendler, H., Kotera, Y., Kremer T., Herpertz, SC. (2022). Fear, depression and well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison. Frontiers of Psychology, doi: 10.3389/psyg.2022.920125 Holm-Hadulla R. M., Wendler H, Baracsi G, Storck T, Möltner A and Herpertz S (2023). Depression and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic in a student population: the effects of establishing and relaxing social restrictions. Frontiers in Psychiatry, doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1200643 Holm-Hadulla, R.M., Kösler, L.-M., Bauer, S., Möltner, A. (2024). The relationship between sense of coherence and self-efficacy with well-being and mental health – the situation of students at a typical German university during the COVID-19 pandemic and 1 year after the lifting of social restrictions. Frontiers in Psychology, 15:1200643. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1457992.