RG Experimental Psychopathology

The RG focusses on the investigation of disturbed mechanisms in stress-related disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We aim to identify mechanisms of emotion dysregulation as well as the influence of stress and trauma on cognitive functions. Based on these findings, we aim to develop specific psychological interventions for these disorders. Methodologies used are structural and functional neuroimaging as well behavioral experiments. For example, we investigate the correlation of self-injurious behaviour with pain processing, emotion (dys)-regulation and brain metabolism to develop new therapeutic interventions, e.g. neurofeedback training. Emotion-related brain activation is made visible for patients via neurofeedback with the aim to improve emotion regulation. Moreover, we focus on the efficacy of psychotherapy on disturbed mechanisms, e.g. on emotion dysregulation. For this, functional neuroimaging is used before and after psychological treatments to examine whether successful psychotherapy impacts functional neural correlates of these mechanisms.