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Dear colleagues, students, and patients,

We are glad you have found our site and are grateful for your interest in our work. One of our goals is to reach out to our research colleagues, clinicians, students, and persons affected by psychological disorders. As a result, our website has grown quite a bit over the years.

To help you find what you need, here is a quick guide to our website To help you find what you need, here is a quick guide to our website (farther down this page, you will find news and a general overview of our range of activities):

For researchers:

On the Research page, you will find summaries of selected research projects and background information.

For everyone:

Get to know the members of our research group as well as our cooperation partners.

For clinicians:

On the Metacognitive Training (MCT) page, we have posted information about our MCT programs, all of which you can download for free. On the Interventions page, we present self-help techniques that are effective for people with psychological problems (e.g., obsessive-compulsive disorder, body-focused repetitive behaviors). Interested in our workshops and e-learning programs? Please go to the workshops page.

For those affected:

We have developed a number of self-help techniques for people with various psychological disorders. The menu bar on the left side of the Interventions page lists the disorders for which self-help tools are available. The Metacognitive Training (MCT) page might also be of interest to you. For example, see our self-help app COGITO.

For students:

Each year, we supervise numerous theses (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral) and also offer internships that last 6 months.

Blog

Here we report the latest news about our training courses on the Metacognitive Training Programme as well as news about study results and evaluations.

We hope you like what we are doing! Steffen Moritz and Lena Jelinek.

Who we are and what we do

Research

We conduct research on a variety of psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder, in collaboration with our German and international research partners. Our work is funded by grants from the government and mental health research organizations, as well as by donations from individual sponsors. We conduct clinical research utilizing established neuropsychological tasks and questionnaires, as well as self-developed experimental cognitive paradigms. We are also at the forefront of online research methods and have recently conducted several studies on online psychological treatments. Our current research projects are described in more detail on this website (see the Research tab above). We always appreciate comments or questions about our research (moritz@uke.de)!

Treatment of Cognitive Disorders

Since 2000, we have been developing and conducting research on a psychological intervention called metacognitive training for psychosis (MCT). The training targets metacognitive processes (i.e., thinking about thinking) with the goal of improving everyday functioning and symptoms. We have adapted and developed MCT for other disorders (borderline personality disorder and depression) for treatment in a group setting. A manual for the individual treatment of patients with schizophrenia (MCT+) and a self-help manual for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (myMCT) are also available. We are currently conducting several studies to assess all interventions in relation to their acceptance, feasibility, and effectiveness among patients. Moreover, we have devised a new technique to decrease obsessive thoughts that has been evaluated as successful in several studies (association splitting).

Assessment and Diagnostics

Diagnostics

Standard neuropsychological methods are used for the assessment of patients. The most frequent diagnostic questions are:

  • diagnostic verification of dementia (especially the differential diagnosis of depression), amnestic syndrome (in the context of substance dependence), or attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder
  • validation of subjective cognitive complaints
  • intelligence assessment (e.g., in cases of suspected intellectual impairment)
  • assessment of ability to work and/or attend school or university
  • verification of neuropsychological dysfunctions secondary to drug or alcohol use

The possible influences of psychopathological conditions and medication, as well as the impact of test anxiety and motivation, on neuropsychological functioning are carefully considered in our final written reports. Each year we process approximately 350 requests from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses

We offer students opportunities to be involved in our group’s various research projects. As a part of this, students may be able to work on their bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis and Ph.D. dissertation. If you are interested, please send an email with relevant attachments (e.g., letters of reference) to Steffen Moritz (moritz@uke.de)  – please, no "snail mail". Good command of the German language is advantageous.

We only have internships available again from November 2025!


Publications

A list of our publications can be found at the bottom of the following site: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy | Neuropsychology and Psychotherapy Research Unit