Psychotherapy, family and couple research and perinatal mental health

Background and research focus

Background

The research group originated from the clinical work with couples and families within the field of psychiatry, especially in mood and eating disorders, perinatal mental health and C-L psychiatry.

Research focus

The current research focuses on a) psychosocial functioning (relational needs, attachment, family accommodation, dyadic and family functioning,….) of patients with different psychiatric and somatic disorders (mood and eating disorders, OCD, Parkinson's disease, facial transplantation, …), b) the effectiveness of psychotherapy (multiple family therapy, group psychoeducation, group CBT, …) in the treatment of different psychiatric disorders and c) the detection and screening of mental health problems and its treatment in the perinatal period.

Members

Professors and Guest Professors

Gilbert Lemmens (contact person)

Postdoctoral researchers

Anne Nobels (Department of Public Health and Primary Care)

PhD candidates

Jan Demeulenaere (Ghent University Hospital)

Linde De Wandel

Roland Rogiers

Rita Van Damme (Ghent University Hospital)

National and international collaborations

  • Lesley Verhofstadt, Department of Experimental clinical and health psychology, Faculty of psychology and educational sciences, Ghent University
  • Wouter Vanderplasschen, Department of special needs education, Ghent University
  • Moïra Mikolajczak, Psychological science research institute, UCLouvain
  • Edward Watkins, University of Exeter

Defended PhDs (last 5 years)

Prevalence and impact of sexual violence in older adults

Anne Nobels (2022)

Family functioning and multi-family therapy in eating disorders

Lies Depestele (2018)

Conflicts in couples: a relational needs perspective

Gaëlle Vanhee (2017)