Professor of Experimental Psychopathology, University of Oxford, Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow
Theme lead: Precision psychological therapies
Email: anke.ehlers@psy.ox.ac.uk
Phone: 01865 618600
My research mainly focuses on anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder, based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology. My Wellcome Trust funded group uses experimental paradigms and prospective longitudinal studies to identify psychological factors that help explain the development and maintenance of these disabling conditions. The results of the studies help us develop new psychological treatments that target these factors. The treatments are evaluated in randomised trials and cohort studies.
The cognitive therapy programme for PTSD developed by our group has been shown to be highly acceptable to patients and very effective. It has been successfully disseminated to provide effective treatment services for victims of the bombings in Omagh and London, and to National Health Service clinics.
Current research projects investigate whether the treatment can be delivered more efficiently, and what the mechanisms of treatment are. Experimental studies investigate mechanisms of intrusive memories after trauma.
Awards:
Wilhelm Wundt – William James Award (2015) and American Psychological; Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology (2014).
Positions:
I am Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow. I am a Fellow of the British Academy, The Academy of Medical Sciences, the Association for Psychological Science, and an elected Member of German National Academy of Scientists Leopoldina and the Academia Europaea.
