Research of the work unit Clinical Psychology for Children and Adolescents

The department of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and its outpatient psychotherapy clinic (PTA KiJu; both led by Prof. Dr. Tanja Hechler) at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Münster, focuses on improving children and adolescent’s mental health care via modern and innovative psychotherapy and psychotherapy research. This is achieved by

• integrating everyday life into psychotherapy,
• investigating internal processes in the body and their perception (interoception) in psychotherapy research and
• studying dyadic interactions in everyday life and in psychotherapy (e.g. with caregivers or practitioners) and its influence on children’s and adolescents’ mental health.

Current projects in the field of innovative prevention research include research into the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in preschool-aged children (4-6 years).

As part of the University of Münster's Master of Science Psychology: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy program (M.Sc. KliPPt), we implement research-based teaching and learning (Forschendes Lehren und Lernen) to continuously improve students’ learning experiences and foster their competencies in psychotherapy practice and research.

High comorbidity rates of mental health disorders in children and adolescents have been a consistent finding in research and clinical practice alike (e.g., Uhlhaas et al., 2023). Due to this, our psychotherapy research, treatment and training incorporate transdiagnostic approaches with a special focus on transdiagnostic treatments for adolescents with internalizing disorders and comorbid disorders (i.e., emotional disorders, chronic (primary) pain, trauma- and stress-related disorders).

Based on the scientist-practitioner-model, the development and ongoing improvement of psychotherapeutic interventions using process-based analyses is a key focus of our work.

We implement open science practices such as preregistration, open data, open material, etc. in concordance with data protection regulation in all our projects. Prof. Dr. Hechler is a member of the Open Science Initiative at the University of Münster's Faculty of Psychology.