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.
She currently works at the University of Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology. [2]
With husband David M. Clark,she developed a cognitive model for PTSD. Therapy she and others based on that model is strongly recommended for treating PTSD by the American Psychological Association. [3] Anke's research has shown that it is a common problem among emergency medical workers, [4] and that a commonly used therapy for PTSD,psychological debriefing,has little provable 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.
After an assistant professorship at the University of Marburg,she became a full professor at the University of Göttingen in 1991.
She moved to Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow in 1993. While there,she lead authored the paper A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder in 1999. [7]
She moved to King's College London in 2000. While there she led a group of people 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 she 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]
She was born in Kiel,West Germany. She is married to her colleague David M. Clark. [12]
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event,such as sexual assault,warfare,traffic collisions,child abuse,domestic violence,or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts,feelings,or dreams related to the events,mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues,attempts to avoid trauma-related cues,alterations in the way a person thinks and feels,and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event and can include triggers such as misophonia. Young children are less likely to show distress,but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.
Psychological trauma is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events that are outside the normal range of human experiences. It must be understood by the affected person as directly threatening the affected person or their loved ones generally with death,severe bodily injury,or sexual violence;indirect exposure,such as from watching television news,may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response,but does not produce trauma per se. Examples of distressing events include violence,rape,or a terrorist attack.
A flashback,or involuntary recurrent memory,is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual has a sudden,usually powerful,re-experiencing of a past experience or elements of a past experience. These experiences can be frightful,happy,sad,exciting,or any number of other emotions. The term is used particularly when the memory is recalled involuntarily,especially when it is so intense that the person "relives" the experience,and is unable to fully recognize it as memory of a past experience and not something that is happening in "real time".
Barbara Rothbaum is a psychologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta,Georgia,United States. She is a professor in the Psychiatry department and a pioneer in the treatment of anxiety-related disorders. Rothbaum is head of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program (TARP) at Emory as well as the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. In the mid-1990s she founded a virtual exposure therapy company called Virtually Better,Inc. This company treats patients with anxiety disorders,addictions,pain,and the like using virtual reality instead of the actual place or scenario. It also allows the therapist to control the environment. She also played a key role in the development of the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
David C. Rubin is Professor of Psychology at Duke University. He is known for his work on the reminiscence bump as well as other topics related to autobiographical memory. He is most recognized for his research and publications regarding memory,specifically,the reminiscence bump and long-term memory. Through extensive education and academic background his career and research started to flourish in the 1970s. Rubin remains active in the field of memory today.
Edna Foa is an Israeli professor of clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania,where she serves as the director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Foa is an internationally renowned authority in the field of psychopathology and treatment of anxiety. She approaches the understanding and treatment of mental disorders from a cognitive-behavioral perspective.
Exposure therapy is a technique in behavior therapy to treat anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves exposing the patient to the anxiety source or its context. Doing so is thought to help them overcome their anxiety or distress. Numerous studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD),social anxiety disorder (SAD),obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD),post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),and specific phobias.
Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is a form of behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. It is characterized by two main treatment procedures –imaginal and in vivo exposures. Imaginal exposure is repeated 'on-purpose' retelling of the trauma memory. In vivo exposure is gradually confronting situations,places,and things that are reminders of the trauma or feel dangerous. Additional procedures include processing of the trauma memory and breathing retraining.
Guided imagery is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that simulate or recreate the sensory perception of sights,sounds,tastes,smells,movements,and images associated with touch,such as texture,temperature,and pressure,as well as imaginative or mental content that the participant or patient experiences as defying conventional sensory categories,and that may precipitate strong emotions or feelings in the absence of the stimuli to which correlating sensory receptors are receptive.
PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder,is a psychiatric disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories,dreams or flashbacks of the event;avoidance of people,places and activities that remind the individual of the event;ongoing negative beliefs about oneself or the world,mood changes and persistent feelings of anger,guilt or fear;alterations in arousal such as increased irritability,angry outbursts,being hypervigilant,or having difficulty with concentration and sleep.
David Millar Clark,is a British psychologist.
Richard McNally is an American psychologist and director of clinical training at Harvard University's department of psychology. As a clinical psychologist and experimental psycho-pathologist,McNally studies anxiety disorders and related syndromes,such as post-traumatic stress disorder,obsessive–compulsive disorder,and complicated grief.
Safety behaviors are coping behaviors used to reduce anxiety and fear when the user feels threatened. An example of a safety behavior in social anxiety is to think of excuses to escape a potentially uncomfortable situation. These safety behaviors,although useful for reducing anxiety in the short term,might become maladaptive over the long term by prolonging anxiety and fear of nonthreatening situations. This problem is commonly experienced in anxiety disorders. Treatments such as exposure and response prevention focus on eliminating safety behaviors due to the detrimental role safety behaviors have in mental disorders. There is a disputed claim that safety behaviors can be beneficial to use during the early stages of treatment.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a cognitive disorder,which may occur after a traumatic event. It is a psychiatric disorder,which may occur across athletes at all levels of sport participation.
Christopher James Alfred Granville Fairburn is a British psychiatrist and researcher. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. He is known for his research on the development,evaluation and dissemination of psychological treatments,especially for eating disorders.
Richard Allan Bryant is an Australian medical scientist. He is Scientia Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and director of the UNSW Traumatic Stress Clinic,based at UNSW and Westmead Institute for Medical Research. His main areas of research are posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and prolonged grief disorder. On 13 June 2016 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC),for eminent service to medical research in the field of psychotraumatology,as a psychologist and author,to the study of Indigenous mental health,as an advisor to a range of government and international organisations,and to professional societies.
Emily A. Holmes is a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist known for her research on mental imagery in relation to psychological treatments for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),bipolar disorder,and depression. Holmes is Professor at the department of Women's and Children's Health at Uppsala University. She also holds an appointment as Honorary Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford.
Patricia A. Resick is an American researcher in the field of post traumatic stress disorder. She is known for developing cognitive processing therapy.
Internet-based treatments for trauma survivors is a growing class of online treatments that allow for an individual who has experienced trauma to seek and receive treatment without needing to attend psychotherapy in person. The progressive movement to online resources and the need for more accessible mental health services has given rise to the creation of online-based interventions aimed to help those who have experienced traumatic events. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be particularly effective in the treatment of trauma-related disorders and adapting CBT to an online format has been shown to be as effective as in-person CBT in the treatment of trauma. Due to its positive outcomes,CBT-based internet treatment options for trauma survivors has been an expanding field in both research and clinical settings.
J. Gayle Beck is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma stress disorders and anxiety disorders. She is the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in the Department of Psychology at the University of Memphis.