DFG approves Emmy Noether Research Group on experimental depression research

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved an Emmy Noether Research Group at RPTU in Landau. The new research group led by Dr. Tobias Kube from the "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Adulthood" unit will focus on experimental research into depression and the application of the findings in therapy. The DFG is funding the clinical psychologist's work with around 1.5 million euros over a period of six years.

People who suffer from depression usually have a negative self-view. However, it is not so much the negative self-view per se that is characteristic of depression, because also mentally healthy people occasionally have negative self-related thoughts such as "I can't do this". What is special about depression, as Tobias Kube has shown in studies, is that people’s negative perception is resistant to change - even if they have positive experiences or receive positive feedback.

Over the next six years, the "Emmy Noether Research Group on Experimental Depression Research" will continue to investigate these difficulties in processing new positive experiences in depression. Specifically, the researchers want to find answers to the questions of which factors are involved, for example which mental processes play a role or what influence emotional aspects have. The research group will also shed light for the first time on the extent to which difficulties in processing new positive experiences are a risk factor for a poorer response to psychotherapy. To this end, the researchers will closely observe the course of therapy of 160 patients with depression over a longer period of time. If the research group's hypothesis was confirmed, this would have important implications for psychotherapeutic treatment: it could be important to specifically help people with depression at the beginning of therapy to learn to integrate new positive experiences so that they can also benefit from the subsequent content of the therapy in the long term.

Dr. Tobias Kube has been a research assistant in the "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Adulthood" department since 2018. He studied psychology at the Philipps University of Marburg (2010 to 2015), obtained his doctorate there in 2018 and was awarded the doctoral prize for the best doctoral thesis in the "Life Sciences and Medicine" section. In 2019, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA) for six months. 

The Emmy Noether Program of the German Research Foundation gives particularly qualified young scientists the opportunity to qualify for a university professorship by independently leading a junior research group over a period of six years.

Contact:

Department of Psychology
Clinical Psychology and Psychology of Adulthood
Dr. Tobias Kube
E-mail: tobias.kube[at]rptu.de