Prof. Dr. Sven Barnow

Prof. Dr. Sven ­ Barnow [✓]

Principal Investigator -  Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

Contact

Address

Room: A104
Hauptstraße 49
69117 Heidelberg

Research profile Prof. Barnow

My research group has been examining the topic of emotion regulation and how emotion regulation processes influence psychopathology or rather wellbeing (inter alia Barnow, 2012, 2014; Overview: Barnow, 2020 and Barnow, Puessner, Schulze, 2020). One aim of our research group is to optimize the measurement of emotion regulation processes and at the same time to understand the mechanisms by which emotion regulation influences mental health. Therefore, we work with some of the most respected scientists nationally and internationally and have developed our own app (EmoTrack) with which we can record emotional experience and regulation directly during everyday life.

Summing up, we are interested in following central questions:

1.       How do individuals regulate their emotions?

2.       Which mechanisms moderate the relationship between emotion regulation and psychopathology or rather wellbeing?

3.       How can emotion regulation processes be measured? (focus on outpatient assessment)

4.       How do cognition and emotion cooperate and what is the significance of emotion regulation?

5.       What is flexible emotion regulation?

6.       What effects does a training of flexible emotion regulation have on mental health?

These and other questions were implemented through various research projects, including the prospective Greifswald family study, (3 measurement times over the course of 10 years), experimental studies on affective dysregulation in borderline disorder (both funded by the DFG) and the collaborative project CANSAS (BMBF) as well as the excellence project on depression. The results of these studies are displayed in numerous publications (see publications for a selection and Barnow, S. (published 2020). Manual Emotion Regulation: Between Mental Health and Psychopathology (Handbuch Emotionsregulation: Zwischen psychischer Gesundheit und Psychopathologie) Link https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783662602799#aboutBook , E-Book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-662-60280-5 .)

In conclusion, we were able to show that emotion regulation processes are not only associated with psychopathology and wellbeing, but that the flexibility of regulation is particularly important. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the frequency of application of certain emotion regulation strategies is directly related to later psychopathology. However, it is important to consider the respective context. Based on these findings we developed the group training “Emotions under control” (Barnow, 2017 and Barnow, Reinelt, Sauer, 2016), which we also conduct in our outpatient clinic (see the outpatient website: https://www.psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de/ae/hsa/). The training manual is currently being thoroughly revised and the new edition will be available at the end of 2023.

Please refer to the lecture index (LSF) for past courses..

1) GENERAL INFORMATION

 

Address of the institution:

Department Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy  
Institut for Psychology  
University Heidelberg
Hauptstr. 47-51
69117 Heidelberg
Phone (Office): 06221 54 7350

 

Position: Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg University 

 

2) ACADEMIC EDUCATION:

1988-1994 Diploma in Psychology

1999 PhD in Psychology

2003 Habilitation in Psychology

 

3) CAREER HISTORY FROM GRADUATION

since 2007 W3 Professorship, Head of the Department for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg University

03/2007 Professor (W3) to Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany

2005-2006 Substitute Professor for Clinical Psychology at the University of Koblenz/Landau

2002-2007 Leading Psychologist: Ward for Personality Disorders at the University of Greifswald

2000-2001 Research Fellow at the University of San Diego (USA, UCLA)

1999 License to become a behavioural therapist (specialist and psychological psychotherapist)

 

4) SOCIAL COMMITMENT and HOBBIES

It is important to me to get involved in social matters.  I am currently supporting various social projects and am committed to a public debate on the de-stigmatisation of mental disorders. Furthermore, I have initiated the foundation of an association in which students and some employees of Heidelberg University offer various activities for people in difficult situations (more information about the association prEVENtion see the web and on the outpatient page). The great commitment of the students to prEVENTion is a great pleasure for me.

 

5) HONOURS

2012-2013 Marsilius Fellowship (Excellence Initiative of Heidelberg University)

2004 Prize for best lecture at the annual meeting of the Society of Neurology

2001-2002 Fellowship of the Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation (UCLA San Diego)

1998 Bayer Award for the manuscript Suicidality in Old Age (Third Prize, co-author, together with Professor Linden)

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Pruessner, L., Timm C., Barnow S., Rubel J.A., Lalk C., Hartmann S. (2024). Effectiveness of a Web-based Cognitive Behavioral Self-Help Intervention for Binge-Eating Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open. 7(5):e2411127. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11127

Rubel, J., Vath, T., Hanraths, S., Pruessner, L., Timm, C., Hartmann, S., Barnow, S., & Lalk, C. (2024). Evaluation of an online-based self-help program for patients with generalized anxiety disorder - A randomized controlled trial. Internet Intervention, 35, 100716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2024.100716 

Geiger, E. J., Pruessner, L., Barnow, S., & Joormann, J. (2023). Empathy is associated with interpersonal emotion regulation goals in everyday life. Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001332 

Mueller, I., Pruessner, L., Holt, D. V., Zimmermann, V., Schulze, K., Strakosch, A. M., & Barnow, S. (2023). If it ain't broke, don't fix it: Positive versus negative emotion regulation in daily life and depressive symptoms. Journal Affective Disorder; 348, 398-408 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.037 

Paul, S., Pruessner, L., Strakosch, A. M., Miano, A., Schulze, K., & Barnow, S. (2023). Examining the strategy-situation fit of emotion regulation in everyday social contexts. Emotion, 23, 1971-1984. doi:10.1037/emo0001209

Hartmann, S., Pruessner, L., & Barnow, S. (2023). Contextual Variations in Emotion Polyregulation: How Do Regulatory Goals Shape the Use and Success of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Everyday Life? Emotion. DOI: 10.1037/emo000128; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37676161

Barnow, S. 2022: Der Umgang mit Emotionen im digitalen Zeitalter. Im Rahmen des Projektes Digitales Deutschland. Online verfügbar: https://digid.jff.de/magazin/emotionen/umgang-emotionen/. 

Miano, A., Barnow, S., Wagner, S., Roepke, S., & Dziobek, I. (2021). Dyadic emotion regulation in women with Borderline Personality Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research. doi:10.1007/s10608-021-10206-8 

Barnow, S., Prüßner, L., Schulze, K. (2020). Flexible Emotionsregulation: Theoretische Modelle und Empirische Befunde. Psychologische Rundschau, 71, 288-302 

Pruessner, L., Barnow, S., Holt, D., Joormann, J., Schulze, K. (2019). A cognitive control framework for understanding emotion regulation flexibility. Emotion, 20, 1-29. 

Izadpanah, S., Barnow, S., Neubauer, A. B., & Holl, J. (2019). Development and validation of the Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies (HFERST): Factor structure, reliability, and validity. Assessment, 26, 880-906. 

Zaehringer, J., Falquez, R., Schubert, A. L., Nees, F., & Barnow, S. (2018). Neural correlates of reappraisal considering working memory capacity and cognitive flexibility. Brain Imaging Behavior, 12, 1529-1543. 

Arens, E. A., Zeier, P., Schwieren, C., Huisgen, H., & Barnow, S. (2018). The perils of aiming too high: Discrepancy between goals and performance in individuals with depressive symptoms. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 58, 12-17. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.07.002.

Holl, J., Wolff, S., Schumacher, M., Hocker, A., Arens, E. A., Spindler, G., Stopsack, M., Südhof, J., Hiller, P., Klein, M, Schäfer, I., Barnow, S. (2017). Substance use to regulate intense posttraumatic shame in individuals with childhood abuse and neglect. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 737-749. doi: 10.1017/S0954579416000432

Grabe, H. J., Wittfeld, K., Van der Auwera, S., Janowitz, D., Hegenscheid, K., Habes, M., Homuth, G., Barnow, S., et al. (2016). Effect of the interaction between childhood abuse and rs1360780 of the FKBP5 gene on gray matter volume in a general population sample. Human Brain Mapping, 37(4), 1602-1613

Falquez, R., Lang, S., Dinu-Biringer, R., Nees, F., Arens, E., Kotchoubey, B., Berger, M., Barnow, S. (2015). On the relationship between negative affective priming and prefrontal cognitive control mechanisms. Cognition & Emotion, 3, 1-20.

Falquez R, Couto B, Ibanez A, Freitag MT, Berger M, Arens EA, Lang S, Barnow, S. (2014). Detaching from the negative by reappraisal: the role of right superior frontal gyrus (BA9/32). Frontier Behavior Neuroscience, 9, 158-165.

Barnow, S., (2012). Emotionsregulation und Psychopathologie: Ein Überblick. Psychologische Rundschau, 63, 111-124. 

Limberg, A., Barnow, S., Freyberger, H.J., Hamm, A. O. (2011). Emotional imagery in borderline personality disorder: Defensive responses are cue specific and are modulated by comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 69, 574-582 


Books u.a. 

1.    Barnow, S. (2024). Was macht ein gelungenes Leben aus? Weisheiten der Stoiker und moderne Forschung zu Glück und Emotionsregulation. Springer Nature, Heidelberg, New York

2. Barnow, S., Reinelt, E., Borm, I. & Sauer, C. (2024). Emotionsregulation. Therapiemanual und Arbeitsbuch: Training zum flexiblen Umgang mit Gefühlen.  Heidelberg: Springer Nature.  (2. komplett überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage) 

3. Barnow, S. (Hrsg.) (2020). Handbuch Emotionsregulation: Zwischen psychischer Gesundheit und Psychopathologie. Heidelberg: Springer. 

4 . Barnow, S. (2017). Gefühle im Griff! (3. Aufl.). Heidelberg: Springer. 

6. Barnow, S. & Balkir, N. (Hrsg.) (2012). Cultural Variations in Psychopathology. From Research to Practice. Basel, New York: Hogrefe International Verlag.

7. Eckert, M., Barnow, S., & Richter, R. (Hrsg.) (2010). Das Erstgespräch in der Klinischen Psychologie. Bern, Göttingen, Toronto: Hans Huber

Interviews

N. Zeller (2023). Nie mehr ausflippen [Interview]. Süddeutsche Zeitung 


Book Chapters (Auswahl)

1. Barnow, S. & Miano, A. (2020). Persönlichkeitsstörungen. In J. Hoyer & A. Knappe. Klinische Psychologie, 3. Auflage. Heidelberg: Springer. 
2. Barnow, S. & Prüßner, L. (2020). Flexible Emotionsregulation als psychologische Grundlage von Achtsamkeit und Selbstmitgefühl. In H. Bents, M. Gschwendt, J. Mander (Hrsg.), Achtsamkeit und Selbstmitgefühl, Psychotherapie: Praxis. Heidelberg, Berlin: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-60318-5_3 
3. Arens, E. & Barnow, S. (2015). Persönlichkeitsstörungen. In F. Petermann, G. Gründer, M.A. Wirtz, J. Strohmer (2015). Lexikon der Psychotherapie und Psychopharmakotherapie, S. 618-620. Dorsch 
4. Barnow, S. & Lang, S. (2012). Modelle psychischer Störungen und die Zukunft der Psychotherapie - die persönlichkeitspsychologische Perspektive. In P. Fiedler: Neue Perspektiven Psychotherapie. Heidelberg: Springer. 
5. Barnow, S. (2012). Kognition versus Emotion? Ein Versuch zur Überwindung dualistischer Konzepte. In: Heidelberg, Marsilius Schriften 2011-2012, S. 151-157.