Obituary

The passing of Cord Benecke fills us with deep sorrow. In this obituary, we wish to remember his work as the Chair of Clinical Psychology I at the University of Kassel and to honor the person who enriched and shaped us with his personal history and personality in unique ways.

Cord Benecke grew up as the middle child with two brothers and two sisters on his family farm in the Lüneburger Heide. In his home village, few could have guessed that he would one day become a renowned researcher. After a period of exploration, which took him to Africa for a year, he decided to study psychology. The German random selection system for university admission led him to Saarbrücken in 1987 – a twist of fate that would prove fortunate for psychoanalysis. During his studies, he worked as a student assistant for Prof. Rainer Krause. He completed his diploma thesis in record time, taking up a position as a research assistant in Saarbrücken in 1994. Plans for an alternative career path, namely starting a Tai Chi studio with his best friend, were abandoned. Concurrently with his doctorate, he underwent his psychoanalytic training at the Saarland Institute of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (SIPP), traveling two hours each way by train for his training analysis over many years. 

In his early research, he followed the tradition of affect research established by Rainer Krause and earned his doctorate in 2001 for his dissertation "Facial Affective Expression and Linguistic Content in the Psychotherapeutic Process." He completed his therapeutic training in 2002 and became a member of the German Psychoanalytic Society (DPG) and led its research commission for many years. He was particularly passionate about promoting scientific talent through annual summer schools, where he took great joy in serving as a mentor for younger colleagues.

After a brief stint as a postdoc in Bremen, he moved to Innsbruck in 2003, where he started his family and lived until his passing. He habilitated in 2004 and continued to work on a temporary professorship and later as a university lecturer and deputy head of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Innsbruck. There, he conducted his first major project using the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD). He also increasingly shifted his research focus to psychotherapy effectiveness, convincing the DPG to fund a large practice study whose results he was delighted to witness published in December 2025. 

His appointment to the University of Kassel in 2010 provided the opportunity to institutionally anchor this practice study in Germany and to passionately engage in teaching, research, and professional policy for psychoanalysis. The price for this was the exhausting commuting between Tyrol and "Hessian Siberia." In Kassel, he initiated another significant psychotherapy study – the APD Study, funded by the German Society for Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics, and Depth Psychology (DGPT), which compares cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and analytical psychotherapy for panic disorder plus personality disorder in a randomized controlled trial. Additionally, he was a member of the research conference of the DGPT and presented at annual conferences. Both studies are unique in the research landscape, primarily because they investigate long-term treatments in practice-oriented settings.

At the University of Kassel, he developed the Master's program in "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy" with Prof. Heidi Möller, which anticipated many elements of the current psychotherapy program through its practice-oriented approach. He also established the university outpatient clinic for psychotherapy (Psychotherapeutische Hochschulambulanz). The diversity of therapeutic schools was always crucial to him: in the department, outpatient clinic, and teaching, there were both psychodynamically and CBT oriented staff. This methodological diversity was also represented in his textbook published in 2014, and there was no greater compliment for him during this time than when a CBT therapist praised him for the CBT chapters. He established a compelling diagnostic structure for new patients at the outpatient clinic, which included an initial consultation, SCID, and OPD interviews, along with a clinic session where the treatment selection for each individual was discussed. He actively engaged in OPD interviews and conducted his own treatments. Clinically, he had a quick understanding and could identify underlying connections, expressing them thoughtfully. Patients often left the outpatient clinic after OPD interviews with surprising insights.

His further contributions were diverse: He was a member of the scientific advisory board of the Lindauer Psychotherapiewochen from 2009 to 2020 and served in scientific leadership from 2020 onward. In the OPD, he became the spokesperson for the working group in 2017 after his mentor and friend, Prof. Manfred Cierpka, and significantly shaped OPD-3. He also advocated for the promotion of junior researchers, notably supporting the creation of the Early Career Forum and the implementation of a research fund within the OPD. Additionally, he passionately and tirelessly engaged in professional politics, contributing to the reform of the Psychotherapeutengesetz – a challenging task as the only psychoanalyst in a state position for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. He rapidly and precisely established the new psychotherapy program in Kassel. He then jointly led the field of Clinical Psychology and the university outpatient clinic with his CBT colleague, Prof. Christoph Flückiger.

Until the end, he had a variety of innovative project ideas, which he successfully implemented, such as the QVA Project (Quality characteristics and relevance to care of psychodynamic training outpatient clinics) and the establishment of the QSP Institute (Institute for Quality Assurance in Psychotherapy). He built structures that were previously difficult to imagine, allowing for the collection of valuable data sets that serve the quality assurance of our profession.

Despite the multitude of his commitments, his team, the university outpatient clinic, student assistants, interns, and the students in Kassel remained the focal point of his work. He was a beloved and admired professor, inspiring many students in psychoanalytic therapy and research. The time he spent on site was always intense, featuring research meetings, clinic sessions, long coffee breaks, dinners, and legendary summer and Christmas parties. Not only were professional topics discussed, but personal experiences were also shared, and laughter was abundant.

Cord Benecke as a leader granted significant freedom. He fostered flat hierarchies with a culture of mutual respect and trust within the extended team, allowing for independent paths. He protected his team, showed tolerance for mistakes, but could also intervene decisively when necessary. He provided much understanding and encouragement in complex situations, such as balancing therapy training with doctoral studies. His sense of justice and generosity were notable, especially regarding teaching materials, data sets, facilitating conferences, or determining the authorship order of publications.

Even during his severe illness, he remained determined and impressed us with an unwavering sense of hope. It was especially moving to observe how his own legacy seemed to surprise him. He left a profound impact on many people in Kassel and far beyond. Many of his former (post)doctoral students now hold professorships, provide psychodynamic teaching, or have become competent, research-oriented practitioners. The work he inspired will live on. 

Cord Benecke will be immensely missed in Kassel. Our thoughts during this difficult time are with his wife and two children, of whom he was incredibly proud and who now must grow up without their father.

On behalf of the current and former staff of the Section of Clinical Psychology I and the entire Department of Psychology at the University of Kassel.

Miriam Henkel & Johannes Zimmermann