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Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt

Department of Clinical Research
Profiles & Affiliations

Projects & Collaborations

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Modulating Stress-Reactivity by Real-Time Multimodal-Functional Neuroimaging based Neurofeedback

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

Psychosocial stress and stress-related disorders represent an increasing emotional and financial burden in industrialized countries. This situation calls for adequate strategies for the prevention and treatment of stress-related disorders. Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (RT-fMRI-NF) allows establishing volitional control over brain activity. While results from first studies on RT-fMRI-NF are highly promising, the method has not yet been tested to modify stress-related processes, including central control of peripheral release of stress-related hormones. The overall goal of the study is to establish an RT-fMRI-NF protocol aiming at modulating neural, endocrine, and subjective reactivity to psychosocial stress.

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Psychotherapy and Psychobiology of Globus Sensations.

Research Project  | 3 Project Members

Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) and somatoform disorders are characterized by the presence of medically unexplained symptoms. They are among the most prevalent disorders in the general medical setting, leading to individual suffering and having huge impact on public health alike. Unfortunately, many patients still remain untreated and not all patients get better, even when receiving currently proposed treatments. The aim of the present project is twofold: First, we want to improve the understanding of risk factors and psychobiological processes leading to the development of FSS. Second, we will explore and evaluate new ways of treating subjects with FSS. Within the project, we will examine subjects with globus sensations in the throat, a very common und impairing form of FSS. The proposed study has the potential to be of high scientific and societal relevance, as i) it may provide insight into the development of FSS, thereby improving our way by which we recognize and diagnose subjects with FSS, and ii) it may help fostering our understanding of how to better treat subjects suffering from FSS.

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sesam Teilprojekt C: Identification of pre-, peri-, and postnatal risk factors

Research Project  | 7 Project Members

The period of fetal and newborn development is a sensitive and vulnerable time in the life cycle of the child. Maternal influences on child's development have long been subjects of scrutiny. Nevertheless those ascendancies seem to start prior to birth and have the potential to be profound. A new area of research addresses the impact of maternal well-being during pregnancy and in early infancy on child's behavior. Special interest is put on the interplay between mother and child in pregnancy and early parenthood. Understanding this link is critical in understanding the mechanisms by which maternal stress or psychopathology alters peri- and postnatal outcomes. Such understanding also has potential clinical application in developing interventions to prevent deleterious antenatal conditions. The focus of our project "The role of early life conditions in shaping behavioral development and it's implications for mother-infant interactions" is on the role of maternal psychological functioning on fetal/infant's development. I We will assess psychological and biological determinants of pre- and postnatal program-ming. We hypothesize that maternal psycho-social and biological distress during pregnancy will program stress related hormones and cy-tokines. As consequences of risk factors be-fore and in early pregnancy we expect biobe-havioral differences in mothers, fetuses and mother-infant dyads. In addition, we expect that newborns will exhibit differences in endo-crine, immune, autonomic and behavioral stress reactivity in the psychobiological as-sessments. The overall aim is to identify and describe neu-rophenotypes in mothers and infants by - gene x environment interactions - pharmacoepigenetics - risk-factors - biomarkers - methods (microarrays, etc.) We will promote a transdisciplinary model of research that respects multiple levels of analy-sis and explanation, literally from the sociologi-cal to the genetic, and to bridge the conceptual divide that separates disciplines.