Forschung / Research

Main research interests

Our main research interests are twofold. Firstly, we are interested in the neural mechanisms which underly psychosomatic disorders such as somatoform disorders. Secondly, we are investigating new psychotherapeutic techniques based on latest scientific findings.

Current Projects

• Why a broken heart hurts: The physical-social pain overlap in healthy controls and patients with somatoform pain disorder (F. Kleber, M. de Greck)
• Efficacy of a new multimodal inpatient treatment approach for patients with bodily distress syndrome (M. Christian, M. de Greck) → Link
• Differences in brain activity induced by imagination of real world and virtual world activities (A. Barmayoun, M. de Greck)
• Psychological and psychosocial interventions for erectile dysfunction (M. Schulz, L. Wiedemann, C. Schiweck, W. Beecken, M. Kersting, M. de Greck, A. Reif)

Current group members

• PD Dr. med. Moritz de Greck (PI)
• Dr. med. Carina Rampp (Clinical Researcher, Senior physician)
• Dr. med. Ute Engelbach (Clinical Researcher, Senior physician)
• Fabrice Kleber (MD student, MSci student)
• Maurice Christian (MD student)
• Ariana Barmayoun (Dr. medic [Timișoara])
• Marie Schulz (MD student)
• Lea Wiedemann (MD student)

Former members

• Samanta Belluci (MSci) 

Selected Publications

• de Greck M, Bölter AF , Lehmann L, Ulrich C, Stockum E, Enzi B, Hoffmann T, Tempelmann C, Beutel M, Frommer J, Northoff G. Changes in brain activity of somatoform disorder patients during emotional empathy after multimodal psychodynamic psychotherapy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2013 Aug; 7(Article 410):1-11.
• de Greck M, Scheidt L, Bölter AF, Frommer J, Ulrich C, Stockum E, Enzi B, Tempelmann C, Hoffmann T, Han S, Northoff G: Altered brain activity during emotional empathy in somatoform  disorder. Human Brain Mapping. 2012 Nov; 33(11):2666-85.
• de Greck M, Shi Z, Wang G, Zuo X, Yang X, Wang X, Northoff G, Han S: Culture modulates brain activity during empathy with anger. NeuroImage. 2012 Feb; 59(3):2871-2882.
• de Greck M, Gang W, Yang X, Wang Y, Northoff G, Han S: Neural substrates underlying intentional empathy. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 2012 Feb; 7(2):135-144.
• de Greck M, Scheidt L, Bölter AF, Frommer J, Ulrich C, Stockum E, Enzi B, Tempelmann  C, Hoffmann T, Northoff G: Multimodal psychodynamic psychotherapy induces normalization of reward related activity in somatoform disorder. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. 2011 Jun; 12(4):296-308.