Anke Ehlers | |
---|---|
Born | |
Spouse | David M. Clark |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychologist |
Sub-discipline | Post-traumatic stress disorder |
Institutions |
Anke Ehlers FBA FMedSci (born 11 January 1957) is a German psychologist and expert in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). [1] She is a Fellow of the major science academies of the UK and Germany.
Ehlers currently works at the University of Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology. [2]
Along with her husband David M. Clark,she developed a cognitive model for PTSD. Therapies based on this model are recommended for treating PTSD by the American Psychological Association. [3] Ehlers's research has revealed that PTSD is a common issue among emergency medical workers, [4] and that a commonly used therapy for PTSD,psychological debriefing,has little proven therapeutic value. [5]
Ehlers studied psychology at the University of Kiel and the University of Tübingen,earning a diploma from Tübingen in 1983. She finished her Ph.D. from the same institution in 1985,and earned a habilitation from the University of Marburg in 1990. [6]
While finishing her Ph.D.,Ehlers worked at Stanford University from 1984 to 1985 as assistant director of the Laboratory for Clinical Psychopharmacology and Psychophysiology.[ citation needed ]
After an assistant professorship at the University of Marburg,she became a full professor at the University of Göttingen in 1991.[ citation needed ]
Ehlers moved to Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow in 1993. While there,in 1999,she lead authored the paper A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. [7]
She moved to King's College London in 2000,where she led a group that developed a therapy based on her and Clark's model. [8] She returned to Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology in 2012;she retains a visiting position at King's College London. [6]
In 2004,Ehlers was elected a Fellow of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. [9] She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2010 [10] and is also a member of the Academia Europaea. [6] In 2018 she was appointed Senior Investigator at the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). [11]
Ehlers was born in Kiel,West Germany. She is married to her colleague David M. Clark. [12]