Basic research with children and adolescents

The central constructs, such as interoception, stress, lay theories of children and adolescents, which can contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders, are addressed in the following projects.

Interozeption bei Kindern und Jugendlichen (INTERO)

The aim of the project is to record the defensive reaction multimodally (e.g. by recording the startle reflex) in children and adolescents with chronic pain and healthy people after provocation and imagination of the body's own sensations at the main site of pain. It is expected that children with chronic pain will show stronger defensive reactions (stronger startle potentiation) than healthy individuals, especially when sensations proximal to the main site of pain are provoked or imagined (DFG project: HE 5942/4-1; SCHN 415/5-1).

Publications

Flack, F., Pané-Farré, C. A., Zernikow, B., Schaan, L. & Hechler, T. (2017). Do interoceptive sensations provoke fearful responses in adolescents with chronic headache or chronic abdominal pain? a preliminary experimental study. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 42(6), 667–678. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsw108

Gruszka, P., Schaan, L., Adolph, D., Pané-Farré, C. A., Benke, C., Schneider, S. & Hechler, T. (2018). Defence Response mobilization in response to provocation or imagery of interoceptive sensations in adolescents with chronic pain: a study protocol. Pain reports, 3(7), e680. https://doi.org/10.1097/pr9.0000000000000680

Opdensteinen, K. D., Schaan, L., Pohl, A., Schulz, A., Domes, G. & Hechler, T. (2021). Interoception in Preschoolers: New insights into its assessment and relations to emotion regulation and stress. Biological Psychology, 165, 108166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108166

Opdensteinen, K. D., Rach, H., Gruszka, P., Schaan, L., Adolph, D., Pané-Farré, C. A., Benke, C., Dierolf, A. M., Schneider, S. & Hechler, T. (2023). “The mere imagination scares me”—Evidence for fear responses during mental imagery of pain-associated interoceptive sensations in adolescents with chronic pain. Pain. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003041

 

Pain Concepts and Treatment (PAINCONTREAT)

The aim is to investigate the biopsychosocial pain concepts of children and adolescents and their parents with the help of a new assessment tool, the Biopsychosozialen Schmerz-Matrix (BiPS Matrix), in healthy and clinical samples with regard to existing concepts and misconceptions.

Publications

Wickering, L., Lautwein, C., Nitsche, H., Schneider, M. & Hechler, T. (2023). Know pain, no pain? Preliminary testing and application of a new tool to assess biopsychosocial pain concepts in children. Children (Basel), 10(5), 814. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10050814