She graduated in psychology in 1978, and in medicine in 1984, both from the University of Hamburg. She has also studied law and sinology at the Goethe University Frankfurt and philosophy at the University of Hamburg. In 1994, she obtained her first doctorate, in Medicine (Dr. med.) from the University of Hamburg. Her thesis addressed the topic of quality of life in a comparative manner, examining the notion of a "good life" in Egypt and in Germany. In 1997 she became a research fellow at the University of Oslo Department of Psychology, where she obtained her second doctorate, in psychology, in 2001.