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Psychological problems continue to be a taboo topic in our society, and those who suffer from such problems often face prejudice and are socially ostracized. Studies have demonstrated that at least one fourth of the general population will develop a psychological condition during their lifetime. This means that one in every four people you know will be in need of psychological help at some point. Some mental illnesses are well understood and effective treatments for them are available; for others, however, the work has just begun. The main goal of our research program in Hamburg is the development of low-threshold intervention strategies, the majority of which are available for free in the form of self-help materials (books and online programs; please click the menu buttons above for more information).

In addition, we have created metacognitive training programs for specific disorders (e.g., psychosis/schizophrenia, depression, borderline personality disorder), which we offer largely for free to our colleagues (for more information, see here). We are proud that some of our intervention programs have already been included in national treatment guidelines and that their effectiveness has been confirmed by independent researchers. However, the international distribution of these materials is an enormous task, for which we need your help.

The main support for our research comes from federal funds. yet, this funding is often not sufficient to cover all our research costs. Support from private donors is thus essential to keeping us at the forefront of psychological research and helping those in need. The expenses for conducting a clinical study range from rather minor items like obtaining ethics committee approval to employing research assistants to perform assessments and to carry out the treatments. We keep our expenses as low as possible. For example, international experts volunteer their time to translate our manuals and other materials into many languages (e.g., www.uke.de/mymct).

All donations (see our banking and PayPal information below) made to our research group go directly to our research, primarily to the translation of our findings from “bench to bedside”: from basic research (i.e., experimental evidence) to treatment programs (i.e., real-world application). To implement our programs, controlled trials must be conducted. These require vast amounts of monetary and personnel resources.

The final and in our view most important step is dissemination of our work. Our research findings and new developments are communicated, critically reviewed, and discussed with colleagues at conferences to ensure the credibility of our findings, which in turn improves our treatment programs.