[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s00278-021-00505-6.].

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the lives of families in an unprecedented way. During the first lockdown, extrafamilial contact was significantly reduced. Many parents had to look after their children and work from home while the economic pressure increased.

Based upon the findings related to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on human living conditions and psychological health, in the first part of this review the authors discuss the consequences of the pandemic for public health. It is surprising to see that related to public health but also psychological factors and sequelae of the pandemic, a broad knowledge was already available based upon former pandemics and disasters long before the outbreak of COVID-19. This knowledge has been used very sparsely, if at all, for health political decisions. In view of the social significance of the pandemic and its social impact, findings from group psychology and group dynamics seem to be specifically important for a better understanding of behavior within the population as well as the conceptualization of public health interventions. An increase in psychological disorders was described related to the pandemic. For the treatment of these disorders, a range of psychotherapeutic approaches including evidence-based group psychotherapy are available. Whereas the use of telemedical and digital techniques is increasingly more common within individual psychotherapy, many questions are still open related to online group treatment.

The pandemic triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has, apart from a few positive effects, led to massive and manifold impairments of human living conditions for which this article suggests a taxonomy. According to the severity, these impairments have resulted in a deterioration of the psychological well-being for many people and an increased vulnerability for psychological disorders. This has been confirmed by numerous studies and review articles, which also dealt with the question of factors that positively as well as negatively influencing mental health. This review shows that, e.g. suffering from COVID-19 disease, younger age and female gender as well as a pre-existing psychiatric or somatic disease must be considered as special risk factors. Psychotherapists are confronted with the pandemic in different ways. In view of the societal impact psychotherapists have a special role. In addition, the pandemic raises questions on specific issues and specific groups which must be addressed.

Mentally ill parents pose a risk factor for the transgenerational transmission of mental disorders. Contemporary psychiatry mainly focuses on the individual and patients are not always recognized as being parents.

The current coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents psychosomatic clinics with new challenges. In order that psychotherapists in private practice can also obtain a picture for their patients, this article deals with the core aspects of hygiene. There are three fundamental patterns of care and provisions by the institutions that can be differentiated: rededication, stepwise evacuation and stand-by for rededication and continuation of the service under medical epidemic conditions. The following topics are the relevant contents: need for consultation in the matter of anxiety for coronavirus and interpersonal mental and psychosomatic problems due to the necessary social distancing, care especially in precarious living situations, altered communication structures (telephone, video consultation) and care of those occupied with the topic of "coronavirus disease 2019" (COVID-19). All patients undergo a clinical and virologic diagnostic process before admittance and receive psychosomatic psychotherapeutic inpatient care, possibly beginning under quarantine conditions. Furthermore, appropriate general hygiene regulations are explained. Finally, what the patients are told is illustrated using a simple schematic aid: distance (minimum 2 m), rubbing (wash hands with soap often and for at least 20 s), avoidance (pass by in a friendly manner), alternative communication, forsaking (shopping is not always necessary), wiping (regularly wipeing of all surfaces by the cleaning personnel as well as tablet and mobile telephone by the patients themselves) and outside activity as much as possible, alone or sitting together (with safety distance). The psychosomatic services were appropriately converted.

The prevalence of mental illnesses in the population has enormously increased during the corona pandemic due to the accompanying burdens and distress. Therefore, it is important to continue with the provision of psychotherapeutic treatment even in times of social distancing. As a result, psychotherapists were soon confronted with the need to expand their traditional treatment setting and offer remote treatment.

The measures taken to reduce the incidence of infections during the corona pandemic brought about considerable restrictions, especially for families with school-age children. Particularly affected are families at risk, who were already confronted with mental disorders, poverty and cramped housing before the pandemic.

Over the last decades various approaches to digitalization of psychotherapy (PT) have been developed. The concept of blended PT, the combination of face to face and online interventions is one such example. While research interest on blended PT has greatly increased in the past years, the implementation of blended PT has lagged behind in German speaking countries. Also, due to the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), blended PT and other online approaches seem to be more relevant than ever before.

As a result of the contact ban issued at the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in March 2020, psychotherapists provided significantly more video-based therapy (VBT) and most of them provided it the first time. To date, there is little research on how therapists experienced VBT during the pandemic and no studies are available that look at possible procedure-specific features.

In the course of the pandemic triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), video-based treatment (VBT) has undergone a trend reversal. It must be assumed that the abrupt switch from traditional psychotherapy to the video setting (VS) has an impact on the therapeutic relationship and thus on the therapeutic process. This study examined how the switch from traditional treatment to VBT (and back again) during the COVID-19 pandemic was experienced by patients and therapists with respect to the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic process.

After catastrophes, trauma and other highly stressful experiences, a proportion of individuals develop mental illness, while another proportion exhibit persisting subclinical distress that limits psychosocial functioning. Individuals with persisting subclinical distress rarely receive psychosocial support services.

International studies could already prove a correlation between alexithymia and expressive suppression. This relationship has only been marginally considered in the German literature so far. The prioritized aim of the present study was to investigate a correlative and factorial relationship between alexithymia and expressive suppression.

One in 12 children is born before 37 completed weeks of gestation and during the last decades survival rates and developmental outcomes of even very premature children have significantly improved. As a result, mental health sequelae of preterm birth are more frequently addressed. The manifestation of a distinct psychopathological profile with co-occurrence of symptoms associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity, autism spectrum and anxiety disorders has been recognized and discussed as "preterm behavioral phenotype", mainly affecting high-risk children with very low birth weights. Current research findings on parental psychological distress and early childhood developmental conditions after preterm birth indicate contextual factors that are of relevance, also for clinicians in psychotherapeutic practice.

Due to the hygiene measures during the coronavirus pandemic at the beginning of 2020, psychotherapy by personal attendance was no longer possible or only possible to a limited extent in many places in Germany. In its place, psychotherapy via video conference was used as an alternative option for treatment.

Beliefs in conspiracies have been widely discussed in society since the worldwide outbreak of the pandemic triggered by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since May 2020 there have been demonstrations throughout Germany in which conspiracy ideology played an important role. The number of conspiracy ideology channels and groups rose during the crisis. Many family members were suddenly confronted in a private context with the question of how to deal with the fact that people close to them suddenly sensed conspiracies everywhere. To have a better understanding of conspiracy narratives this article therefore presents psychological insights that attempt to explain why people believe in conspiracies and what consequences this world view might have. Based on these findings the article discusses how misinformation and conspiracy narratives can be dealt with in a therapeutic setting.

As a reaction to the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in individual settings psychotherapy could be conducted online to an unlimited extent in Germany. The attitudes and experiences of psychotherapists with respect to online therapy (OT) have so far been generally poorly studied and particularly with a view to the situation during the pandemic.

Stress and coping during the lockdown in families with mentally ill members have not yet been described.

Due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the resulting constraints on personal (i.e. face to face) treatment, video consultations have recently gained a major role in the delivery of healthcare services; however, until now, most psychotherapists have little experience with conducting video consultations, not least because of poor possibilities for reimbursement from the statutory health insurance. This article provides (1) an overview of the effectiveness of psychotherapy interventions delivered via video consultations for depression and anxiety disorders, (2) recommendations for setting up and conducting these consultations and (3) first experiences of psychotherapists from a German feasibility study and from the provision in routine care in hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contact restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affect people's social lives at various levels as well as their mental and sexual health.

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV‑2 and the disease caused by it with the official name coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is forcing the implementation of drastic measures worldwide, which are aimed at containing the massive spread. The measures include domestic isolation of the population as far as possible. Domestic isolation and quarantine are, however, exceptional situations, which most people have not yet experienced. These set measures can have an effect on the psyche and be very debilitating for those affected. Clear behavioral measures and mental strategies, which have been scientifically researched and established in psychology, help to overcome this exceptional situation.