ASSOC. RG Wessa

Lead:
Prof. Dr Michèle Wessa

Associated Group Leader LIR, Professor and Head Department of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Staff

Annika Edelmann, PhD student

Jana Meier, PhD student

Jennifer Piloth, Research assistant

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Former employees

Anna Bergmann, PhD student

Eliza Eckhardt, PhD student

Dr. Lena Eppelmann, Postdoc

Dr. Aleksandra Kaurin, Postdoc

Dr. Friederike Köhler, Postdoc

Heike Schmidt-Harth, MTA-F

Sandra Schönfelder, Study Coordination

Tabea Werner, PhD student

Research group description

The research group investigates the neurobiological and behavioural correlates of central resilience mechanisms as well as the possibilities of behaviour modification derived from them, for example through psychological interventions. Emotional, motivational, and cognitive mechanisms, such as the regulation of emotions by means of different strategies, the processing of reward and the (distorted) cognitive interpretation of situations, play a major role. The regulation of emotions under stress as well as the effect of controllable and uncontrollable stress on human behaviour is investigated. A combination of biopsychological and behavioral measurement methods enables us to comprehensively characterise the mechanisms that contribute to increased stress resilience in humans. This information is used to develop appropriate intervention methods in different formats (e.g., face-to-face training, online training), which are used in large-scale studies to test effectiveness.

Current research projects

Online trainings to promote resilience (ResOn)
Blended resilience training to foster stress resistance in teachers (BooSTERIT)
Computational modelling of behavioural control

External cooperation partners

Prof. Dr Dirk Lehr, Institute of Psychology, Leuphana University Lüneburg
Prof. Dr Martin Bohus, the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim

Sponsorships

Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation

Key Publications

Ahrens KF, Neumann RJ, Kollmann B, Brokelmann J, von Werthern NM, Malyshau A, Weichert D, Lutz B, Fiebach CJ, Wessa M, Kalisch R, Plichta MM, Lieb K, Tüscher O, Reif A (2021) Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on mental health in Germany: longitudinal observation of different mental health trajectories and protective factors. Transl Psychiatry. 11(1):392. doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01508-2

>> Link to Pubmed

Kalisch R, Köber G, Binder H, Ahrens KF, Basten U, Chmitorz A, Choi KW, Fiebach CJ, Goldbach N, Neumann RJ, Kampa M, Kollmann B, Lieb K, Plichta MM, Reif A, Schick A, Sebastian A, Walter H, Wessa M, Yuen KSL, Tüscher O, Engen H (2021) The Frequent Stressor and Mental Health Monitoring-Paradigm: A proposal for the operationalization and measurement of resilience and the identification of resilience processes in longitudinal observational studies. Front Psychol. 12:710493. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710493

>> Link to Pubmed

Meine LE, Meier J, Meyer B, Wessa M (2021) Don't stress, it's under control: Neural correlates of stressor controllability in humans. Neuroimage. 245:118701. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118701

>> Link to Pubmed

Neumann RJ, Ahrens KF, Kollmann B, Goldbach N, Chmitorz A, Weichert D, Fiebach CJ, Wessa M, Kalisch R, Lieb K, Tüscher O, Plichta MM, Reif A, Matura S (2021) The impact of physical fitness on resilience to modern life stress and the mediating role of general self-efficacy. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2021 Oct 7. doi:10.1007/s00406-021-01338-9

>> Link to Pubmed

Ochmann DT, Philippi KFA, Zeier P, Sandner M, Hillen B, Neuberger EWI, Ruiz de Azua I, Lieb K, Wessa M, Lutz B, Simon P, Brahmer A (2021) Association of innate and acquired aerobic capacity with resilience in healthy adults: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of an 8-week web-based physical exercise intervention. JMIR Res Protoc. 10(11):e29712. doi:10.2196/29712

>> Link to Pubmed

Sandner M, Zeier P, Lois G, Wessa M (2021) Cognitive emotion regulation withstands the stress test: An fMRI study on the effect of acute stress on distraction and reappraisal. Neuropsychologia. 157:107876. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107876

>> Link to Pubmed

Schueler K, Fritz J, Dorfschmidt L, van Harmelen AL, Stroemer E, Wessa M (2021) Psychological network analysis of general self-efficacy in high vs. low resilient functioning healthy adults. Front Psychiatry. 12:736147. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.736147. eCollection 2021.

>> Link to Pubmed

Zeier P, Meine LE, Wessa M (2021) It's worth the trouble: Stressor exposure is related to increased cognitive reappraisal ability. Stress Health. doi:10.1002/smi.3101

>> Link to Pubmed