How do treatment expectations influence the success of therapy for mental disorders and physical illness? How can we change these expectations to benefit those affected? And how can we involve patients in our research to make it particularly effective and relevant to their daily lives? Prof. Meike Shedden Mora at the Medical School Hamburg is exploring questions like these.
Prof. Meike Shedden Mora, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Medical School Hamburg and principal investigator in the CRC289 in project Z02
Conducting research together with patients means gaining new insights that science alone could never uncover. I find that incredibly enriching.
Prof. Meike Shedden Mora, Professor for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Medical School Hamburg and project lead in the CRC/TRR 289 for project Z02
I am a professor of clinical psychology at the Medical School Hamburg. Together with Winfried Rief and Harald Engler I lead the central research project Z02 within the CRC/TRR 289. Our project connects all the other projects by organizing the standardized collection of questionnaire data and biological parameters from several thousand patients and healthy individuals.
I place particular importance on leading our CRC-wide Patient Advisory Board, which helps to shape and inspire our research from the perspective of those affected. I am very grateful for how much I have already learned through my interactions with these experts.
As an experienced psychotherapist, I know how important it is to see things from the other person’s perspective in order to truly understand their experience and be able to help them. As a researcher, I also embrace this shift in perspective, since many of my research projects are interdisciplinary and situated at the intersection of medicine and psychology. My team and I are particularly interested in the following research questions:
- How can treatment expectations be accurately assessed and how do they influence the treatment outcomes for mental disorders and physical illnesses?
- Can treatment outcomes be optimized by deliberately adjusting expectations?
- Why do some people suffer particularly from chronic physical ailments and how can we help them?
- How can we make our research on treatment expectations particularly effective and relevant to everyday life by involving patients?
I studied at the university of Marburg and in Turin (Italy). I completed both my doctoral degree and training as a psychological psychotherapist in Marburg. This was followed by positions at the Elbe Klinikum Stade, the University of Hamburg, and many years at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, where I earned my habilitation in 2019. Since 2021, I have held a professorship in Clinical Psychology at the Medical School Hamburg. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed traveling internationally: in research and teaching assignments in Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia) and San José (Costa Rica).
Prof. Meike Shedden Mora: The Fascinating Interplay Between Physical and Psychological Processes
How I came to placebo research as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist.
I have long been fascinated by the interplay between the body and the mind. Even in my master’s thesis, I discovered that an individual’s perception of their illness can predict the success of heart surgery. My advisor, Winfried Rief, then introduced me to the “world of placebos”. When I first heard that a large part of the effect of antidepressants is due to the placebo effect, my enthusiasm was sparked.
Since I also conduct a great deal of research on chronic physical symptoms, I frequently encounter patients whose symptom burden cannot be explained solely by the severity of their condition. In this context, as well as in placebo research, it is never a matter of “either/or”, but rather the fascinating question of how physical and psychological processes interact.
Why placebo research fascinates me so much.
I am particularly fascinated by this shift in perspective regarding treatments: for example, instead of making minor adjustments to a medication regimen, it can be so much more effective to talk to patients about their expectations! It is very important to me that we discuss this shift in perspective more extensively, both in clinical practice and in the public sphere.
Since I really enjoy questioning the status quo, my research soon led me to ask what treatment expectations – a core mechanism of placebo and nocebo effects – actually are. Are they hopes? Fears? Estimates of the likely treatment outcome? I enjoy exploring this question through various methodological approaches, ranging from questionnaires and experiments to personal conversations with patients.
What brings me joy in life.
I am incredibly grateful for the diversity my profession offers me. It is deeply fulfilling to work with my fantastic team and our collaborators within the CRC and beyond to develop exciting new research projects, and to use the answers to one research question to formulate ten new ones. As a psychotherapist, I support people through life’s crises. As a program director of our master’s program in psychology with a focus on clinical psychology and psychotherapy, I play an active role in shaping the training of future psychotherapists.
In my personal life, I enjoy making things by hand, such as clothes for my children. Above all, my intercultural family and friends, traveling to other cultures, and exercising outdoors give me strength and purpose.