I am an assistant professor, holding a PhD in psychology, and psychotherapy license for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) treating children, adolescents and adults. 

I'm aiming to empower children, adolescents and parents to better cope with stress and mental illness using the advantages of digital technology.

Research Focus

My research focuses on prevention of mental illness in children, adolescents and parents using digital technology methods. In recent years I have been intensively involved in the development of a mobile application for the prevention of mental disorders and improvement of emotional competence and technical possibility in psychology. More specifically, together with computer scientists, but also the target group themselves, I developed mobile applications for adolescents, high-risk groups as the offspring of parents with psychiatric disorders and (expectant) parents with psychosocial burden. In longterm prospective randomised controlled trials I evaluated the efficacy of such interventions regarding acceptance, psychopathology and mental well-being in the respective target group. 

Currently, I’m conducting more intensively studies focusing on the real-time assessment and feedback of every-day stressors and psychopathology parameters, including wearables, biochemical parameters and emotion recognition via affective computing. I’m interested in monitoring the processes of behavioural changes and using technical solutions to enhance prevention but also psychotherapy outcomes.

Editorial Boards

PLOS ONE

Academic Editor

Kindheit und Entwicklung

Guest Editor in 2023

Memberships

ISRII

International Society for Research on Internet Interventions

GCPD

Global Consortium for the Prevention of Depression

DGPs

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie (German Society of Psychology)

E-mental Health Special Interest Group

Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents, Special Interest Group

AVM

 

Kassenärztliche Vereinigung

& Psychotherapeutenkammer

Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Verhaltensmodifikation (Working group of Behavior Modification)

 

German Health Organisations of licensed Psychotherapist (Association of Statury Health, Chamber of Psychotherapists)

 

 

Open Science Statement 

In my research I adhere to the following open science standards if ever practically possible: 

studies are either pre-registered or studies / analyses are explicitly marked as exploratory, data and materials (and if possible also reproducible analysis scripts) are made publicly available at the time of publication, all manipulations and assessed variables are reported; I aim to report failed studies in a project, studies are planned to have sample sizes that allow achieving sufficient statistical power; power is a-priori determined where ever possible on the basis of power analyses, I support replication (see PRODO trial, e.g.) and also aim to make non-successful replications (of own and others’ findings) available.

Exceptions are possible, for example, if there are restrictions due to legal or contractual obligations (e.g., concerning data sharing or material sharing) or if quick set-ups are required to analyze current societal developments.