Helper syndrome

Helper syndrome is the term for the negative effects of over-helping, often found in social professions (such as teachers, doctors, elder care, pastors, psychologists, social workers). It was first described in 1977 by the psychoanalyst Wolfgang Schmidbauer in his book Die hilflosen Helfer.

The condition underlying excessive helping was later called pathological altruism (pathological charity).

According to Wolfgang Schmidbauer, a person with helper syndrome has a weak self-image and is obsessed with his helper role; helping or wanting to be used becomes an addiction. He tries to embody an ideal that he misses from his parents or in general in his childhood. Their willingness to help extends to self-harm and abandonment of family and society; In doing so, one overlooks or underestimates the limits of what is possible and also ignores whether your help is desirable or wise. He refuses to help others in his mission. As a result, exhaustion or depression may occur.

Treatment BeterKlinic

BeterKliniek is the clinic for Integrative Medicine that bridges regular and non-regular medicine.

An van Veen (physician) and Michael van Gils (therapist) look for the cause of a condition or disease. That is where the treatment starts otherwise, as people often say, it is 'carrying water to the sea'. We call this cause medicine. Sometimes it is also desirable to treat the symptoms (at the same time). We call this symptom medicine.

Chronic disorders often have their cause in epi- genetics. You can schedule a free informative telephone consultation (phone number 040-7117337 until 1 p.m.) at BeterKliniek to discuss your symptoms so that we can provide you with further advice.