Research

My rese­arch approach invol­ves direct impli­ca­ti­ons for the clinical-psychological work and the­ra­peutic and psy­cho­so­ma­tic prac­tice. In addi­tion to my three main rese­arch areas, I also con­duct rese­arch in the fields of part­nership, sexua­lity, psy­cho­so­ma­tic aspects of repro­duc­tive medi­cine and attach­ment as well as rese­arch about health­care pro­fes­si­ons (psy­cho­logy, medi­cine, etc.).

 

Research focus 1: E-MENTAL HEALTH

 

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he cli­ni­cal and rese­arch field of E-mental health descri­bes the use of modern media wit­hin the com­plete spec­trum of cli­ni­cal psy­cho­lo­gi­cal inter­ven­tion. This inclu­des its use wit­hin preven­tion, self-help, coun­sel­ling, the­rapy, and reha­bi­li­ta­tion.

The most pro­mi­nent media inter­ven­tion form is the Inter­net, even though a host of other media forms such as vir­tual rea­lity tech­no­lo­gies, apps, and com­pu­ter games can be employed as tre­at­ment moda­li­ties. E-mental health also repres­ents a gro­wing rese­arch field that aims to examine cli­ni­cally rele­vant effects of media use.

Among such effects are a num­ber of Inter­net rela­ted dis­or­ders and pro­blems inclu­ding; addic­tive, dys­func­tio­nal, self-harming and devi­ant uses of modern media.

Selected Publications:

Eichen­berg, C. & Hüb­ner, L. (2018). Psy­cho­ana­lyse via Inter­net: Ein Über­blick zum aktu­el­len Stand der Dis­kus­sion um Mög­lich­kei­ten und Gren­zen. Psy­cho­the­ra­peut, 63(4), 283–290. DOI: 10.1007 / s00278-018‑0294–0

Eichen­berg, C., Schott, M., Sawyer, A., Aumayr, G. & Plöss­nig, M. (2018). Fea­si­bi­lity and Con­cep­tua­liza­t­ion of an e-Mental Health Tre­at­ment for Depres­sion in Older Adults: Mixed-Methods Study. Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Rese­arch – Aging, 1(2):e10973, DOI: 10.2196/10973.

Eichen­berg, C., Schott, M., Decker, O. & Sin­delar, B. (2017). Attach­ment style and inter­net addic­tion: An Online Sur­vey. Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Research, 19(5):e170. DOI: 10.2196/jmir.6694. (Impact Fac­tor: 4.7)

Eichen­berg, C. & Schott, M. (2017). Serious Games for Psy­cho­the­rapy: A Sys­te­ma­tic Review. Games for Health, 3, 127–135. (Impact Fac­tor: 1.88)

Eichen­berg, C., Grab­mayer, G. & Green, N. (2016). A sur­vey of the­ra­pists’ and pati­ents’ atti­tu­des towards serious games in psy­cho­the­rapy. Tele­me­di­cine and e-Health, April 5th. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2016.0001 (Impact Fac­tor: 1.79)

Eichen­berg, C. & Schott, M. (2016). An Empi­ri­cal Ana­ly­sis of Inter­net Mes­sage Boards for Self-Harming Beha­vior. Archi­ves of Sui­cide Rese­arch, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2016.1259597. (Impact Fac­tor: 1.64)

Eichen­berg, C., Wol­ters, C. & Bräh­ler, E. (2013). The inter­net as a Men­al Health Advi­sor in Germany- Results of a Natio­nal Sur­vey. PLOS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079206 (Impact Fac­tor: 4.49)

 

Current research projects:
  • An inter­na­tio­nal com­pa­ri­son of the accep­tance and use of Serious Games wit­hin health ser­vices.
  • Serious Games: Preven­tion of Stress for the Medi­cal Staff of the Ger­man Federal Armed Forces
  • Internet/Smartphone addic­tion and attach­ment style.
  • The rela­ti­ons­hip bet­ween taking sel­fies and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal and cli­ni­cal aspects of per­so­na­lity.
  • Chan­ges in couple and family rela­ti­ons­hips in the age of digi­tal media
  • Psy­cho­ana­ly­sis online
  • Robotic in Medi­cine, Psy­cho­logy, Psy­cho­so­ma­tics, and Psy­cho­the­rapy

 

Research focus 2: PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH

 

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sycho­the­rapy rese­arch con­cerns its­elf with the effec­tiven­ess and work mecha­nisms of psy­cho­the­ra­peutic tre­at­ment moda­li­ties that are embed­ded wit­hin an ethi­cal frame­work. Con­se­quently it has esta­blis­hed its­elf as the field of “psy­cho­the­rapy suc­cess rese­arch”.

Freud noted the import­ance of failure for per­so­nal deve­lop­ment. This state­ment can also be app­lied to the sub­ject of psy­cho­the­rapy rese­arch in that there is as much to learn from unsuc­cess­ful the­rapy attempts as there is from suc­cess rese­arch. Howe­ver the exami­na­tion of unsuc­cess­ful the­rapy is cur­rently under­de­ve­lo­ped both in aca­de­mic rese­arch and cli­ni­cal prac­tice.

Risks and side effects relate to various pro­blem areas wit­hin psy­cho­the­rapy (the­rapy adhe­rence, non-responders, wor­se­ning of psy­cho­lo­gi­cal sym­ptoms, aberra­tion in the the­ra­peutic alli­ance, and mal­prac­tice). It is the­re­fore essen­tial that psy­cho­the­rapy “failure rese­arch” is given the same prio­rity as the effec­tiven­ess of tre­at­ment moda­li­ties.

Selected publications:

Eichen­berg, C. & Herz­berg, P.Y. (2016). Do The­ra­pists Google Their Pati­ents? A Sur­vey Among Psy­cho­the­ra­pists. J Med Inter­net Res, 18 (1):e3. DOI: 10.2196/jmir.4306. (Impact Fac­tor: 4.7)

Eichen­berg, C., Becker-Fischer, M. & Fischer, G. (2010). Sexual Assaults in The­ra­peutic Rela­ti­ons­hips: Pre­va­lence, Risk Fac­tors and Con­se­quen­ces. Health, 12 (9), 1018–1026. (Impact Fac­tor: 0.76)

 

Current research projects:
  • Lead rese­ar­cher for an inter­na­tio­nal rese­arch pro­ject focu­sing on the con­cept of patient-targeted-googling (PTG) and therapist-targeted goog­ling (TTG) among cli­ni­ci­ans and ser­vice users in the US, Ire­land, New Zea­land, Ger­many, Aus­tria and Swit­z­er­land. 
  • Atta­che­ment Sty­les and Babies with Fee­ding Dis­or­ders
  • Self-disclosure in coun­sel­ling

 

Research-Focus 3: PSYCHOTRAUMATOLOGY

 

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sycho­t­rau­ma­to­logy exami­nes psy­cho­lo­gi­cal trauma in terms of its deve­lop­ment, course and long-term effects. The area of rese­arch is now dif­fe­ren­tia­ted into gene­ral and dif­fe­ren­tial psy­cho­t­rau­ma­to­logy, as well as spe­cia­list psy­cho­t­rau­ma­to­logy. Gene­ral psy­cho­t­rau­ma­to­logy focu­ses on the gene­ral aspects of trauma and resul­ting beha­viours, while dif­fe­ren­tial psy­cho­t­rau­ma­to­logy con­cerns its­elf with inter/individual and inter/situational dif­fe­ren­ces and dis­po­si­ti­ons of trauma expe­ri­ence and pro­ces­sing.

Spe­cia­list psy­cho­t­rau­ma­to­logy inves­ti­ga­tes typi­cal trauma rela­ted situa­ti­ons such as vio­lent crime and childhood sexual abuse. The body of rese­arch does not just con­cen­trate on vic­tims, but also pro­fes­sio­nals who work with vic­tims. As such I have writ­ten teaching books for stu­dents, essays in rele­vant jour­nals, as well as edu­ca­tio­nal works about trauma rela­ted dis­or­ders for medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nals (e.g. for gene­ral phy­si­ci­ans). Ano­ther focus of my work con­cen­tra­tes on E-mental health and trauma;

in par­ti­cu­lar rese­arch ques­ti­ons rela­ting to the secon­dary preven­tion of PTSD as well as trauma rela­ted dis­or­ders that have resul­ted from Inter­net vio­lence (Cyber­bul­ly­ing) and how these dis­or­ders can be best trea­ted. As such I have writ­ten teaching books for stu­dents, essays in rele­vant jour­nals, as well as edu­ca­tio­nal works about trauma rela­ted dis­or­ders for medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nals (e.g. for gene­ral phy­si­ci­ans). Ano­ther focus of my work con­cen­tra­tes on E-mental health and trauma; in par­ti­cu­lar rese­arch ques­ti­ons rela­ting to the secon­dary preven­tion of PTSD as well as trauma rela­ted dis­or­ders that have resul­ted from Inter­net vio­lence (Cyber­bul­ly­ing) and how these dis­or­ders can be best trea­ted.

Current research projects:
  • Trauma as an aetio­lo­gi­cal fac­tor in takot­subo car­dio­my­o­pa­thy (Car­dio­logy)
  • Sexual abuse in psy­cho­the­rapy