Hans-Ulrich Wittchen


Hans-Ulrich Wittchen is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and epidemiologist. He has been a head of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies at the Technische Universität Dresden. Since 2018, he is leading the research group "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Research" at the Psychiatric Clinic of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and directs the in Dresden.

Biography and education

After graduating at the Freiherr-von-Stein-Gymnasium in Leverkusen in 1968, Wittchen studied Medicine and Psychology in Vienna, Austria. He began his career as a research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry in the Psychiatric University Hospital in Vienna. In Vienna, Hans-Ulrich Wittchebn was in charge of introduction of behavioral therapy methods at Anton Proksch Institute and Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute. He earned his PhD in 1975 with a thesis on clinical significance of biofeedback methods in the faculty of psychology, Vienna University. In addition he completed his psychotherapy training licensed by the German Behavioral Therapists Association and the ; in 2000 he received his "Approbation" according to German law.
1976 Prof. Wittchen worked at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim and was appointed project leader in 1978, in the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. In 1984, he completed his habilitation for clinical psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich with publication and a monograph on "Course and Outcome of Treated and Untreated Anxiety and Depressive Disorders". While remaining head of the MPI-P research department, he was appointed as Professor of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy in 1984 at the University of Mannheim, where he founded the “Psychotherapy Outpatient Department” and the Institutes psychophysiological lab. 1989, Hans-Ulrich Wittchen took a sabbatical to support the World Health Organization´s division of Mental Health and the United States Department of Health and Human Services department in completing the WHO-ICD-10 classification and the US-DSM-III-R systems, developing diagnostic tools and conducting supplementary studies.
1990 he was appointed as Director of the "Department of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology" at the MPI-P in Munich. Throughout his professional career, Wittchen repeatedly was "visiting scientist" and "visiting professor" at the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, USA, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA and the Harvard University in Boston, where he collaborated with Lee Robins, Ron Kessler and Darrel Regier on the development of diagnostic tools and national and international epidemiological surveys.
In 2000, Wittchen was appointed as Chair and Director of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Technische Universität Dresden. During the time period from 2000 to 2017, he founded the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, the Neuroimaging Center and the for treatment of mental disorders and the postgraduate education of psychotherapists in Dresden. After retiring from the position of Chair in 2017, he accepted the position of a research group leader at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.
Prof. Wittchen is a licenced psychotherapist and still acts as CEO of the IAP-TU Dresden GmbH.

Work

Prof. Wittchen is a basic and clinical researcher, focusing on the identification of causal factors for mental disorders by combining clinical psychological and psychiatric paradigms and methods with epidemiological approaches and methods. His groundbreaking studies on the course and outcome of treated and untreated anxiety and affective disorders have advanced the knowledge and improved treatment of anxiety and affective disorders particularly by developing “symptom progression” and “comorbidity” models. These studies led to the development of numerous psychotherapy manuals for anxiety and substance use disorders that after a series of randomized clinical trials have become the state-of-the-art manuals for various disorders. They also led to subsequent studies in which he explored the role of stress, trauma PTSD and substance use as well as the impact of mental disorders on neurological and somatic disease.
He also was PI and Co-PI on a number of studies on the prevalence, effects, course, care, therapy, and prevention of mental disorders in Germany and worldwide. His 2005 and 2011 studies "Size and burden of mental disorders in Europe" are among his most cited recent works.
Wittchen conducts aetiological basic research on anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, stress and substance-related disorders as well as on related physical disorders. Wittchen specifically claims to have aided the discovery of generalized anxiety disorder. Fields of his studies include frequency, burdening effects, progress, treatment, therapy and prevention of mental disorders.
Since the late 90's, Wittchen has been author and co-author of the German edition of the DSM-IIIR to DSM-5 revision and he contributed substantially to the development of diagnostic instruments, such as Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Disorders and Computer-aided International Diagnostic Interview.
With over 840 peer review publications, he has been awarded the status of “Highly Cited” in Web of Science since the late 90's and is listed by Thomson Reuters among the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds.

Memberships

Wittchen is or has been a speaker and principal investigator of many large-scale national, EU and international research programs, WMH, NCS. He has also been a Task Force Member der APA-DSM-5 Commission for Anxiety Disorders and an Executive Council Member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a Task Force Member of the European Brain Council “Size, burden and cost of disorders of the brain in Europe”, and is Fellow of ECNP and the American Psychological Society (APS].
From 2012 to 2017, he has been a member of Senate of Technische Universität Dresden, has been a Honorary Professor for psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich and an Honorary Professor for epidemiology and public health at Miami University, Miller School of Medicine, USA.

Publications

Prof. Wittchern ranks as one of the most cited scientists worldwide. His publications include German and English-language books as editor and author on epidemiology and treatment of mental disorders. Wittchen is author and publisher of books on epidemiology and treatment of mental disorders as well as of more than 500 peer-reviewed articles.
Prof. Wittchen is editor and author of the German textbook "Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie" as well as numerous specialist books on behavioral therapy and psychotherapy, e.g. "Exposure Therapy - Rethinking the Model" "Handbuch Psychischer Störungen" und "Expositionsbasierte Therapie der Panikstörung und Agoraphobie".
He also authored several patient self-help books for depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, premenstrual syndrome and other disorders.
Wittchen is the founder and co-editor of various peer-review journals, e.g. "Verhaltenstherapie" and "International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research", and Archives of Women's Mental Health.

Awards