Clinical Director: Professor Anke Ehlers
Tel: 020 7848 5033
e-mail: Lisa Wood
Background information
Anke Ehlers is Professor of Experimental Psychopathology and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry. She is the Research Director of the Maudsley Hospital's Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma.
Anke Ehlers trained as a clinical psychologist in Germany and the United States. She obtained her Ph.D. in psychology (1985) from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and a post-doctoral degree in clinical psychology and psychophysiology (Habilitation, 1990) from the University of Marburg, Germany. Her previous posts include Research Scholar at Stanford University, CA, USA (1983-1985), Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Marburg (1985-1991), Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Germany (1991-1993), Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry, UK (1993-2000), and Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, USA (2004-2005). In 2004, she was elected Fellow of the "Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina" (German Academy of Scientists).
Anke Ehlers's research focus on anxiety disorders, in particular panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and social phobia. Further research interests include psychological factors in cardiovascular and dermatological disorders.
Disorders treated
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Research Professor Ehlers is currently involved in
- Psychological treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled trial compares different versions of psychological treatments for PTSD, delivered either in weekly sessions, or as an intensive treatment programme. There is also an ongoing research programme designed to further improve treatment outcomes.
- Predictors of PTSD, phobias and depression after road traffic accidents and assaults: The research seeks to determine whether trauma survivor's reactions soon after a traumatic event can help predict later psychological problems.
- Experimental studies of reexperiencing symptoms in PTSD: A series of studies in looking at what features of trauma memories explain the "flashback" nature of unwanted trauma memories.