Expectation violation and reward sensitivity in psychological interventions modifying the course of illness in acute depression (C02)

• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 521379614

Negative expectations of future events and impaired sensitivity for rewards are main drivers of dysfunctional behavior and cognitive-emotional patterns in depression. The project applies targeted interventions in 150 acute depression patients based on expectation violation vs. reward sensitivity approaches. This links systems neuroscience parameters (esp. functional and structural brain imaging) with cognitive-emotional mechanisms and a mechanism-based psychological intervention into a translational design, improving our understanding of key modifiers of short-term symptom improvement following depression onset.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 393: Trajectories of Affective Disorders: Cognitive-emotional Mechanisms of Symptom Change
• Applicant Institution: Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Igor Nenadic; Professor Winfried Rief, Ph.D.