This page is for students who are considering having their bachelor's or master's thesis supervised by me. I can be the primary supervisor at the FU Berlin and the secondary supervisor at the University of Greifswald, although I will prefer FU Berlin students when I get more than one application per topic. If you are interested, contact me!
I am adding new topics constantly. Check this page regularly to stay up to date in this regard!
<aside> ℹ️ My topics are at the intersection of clinical psychology and quantitative methods. They generally require some proficiency with the R programming language and the willingness to engage with statistical methods that were not necessarily part of your curriculum. In return, you will get access to exciting projects by leading researchers in clinical psychology and psychotherapy.
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Overview
Cooperation with Dr. Johannes Kopf-Beck, LMU Munich and Dr. Samy Egli, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry
Type: Secondary Data Analysis
Short description: A randomized-controlled trial found that cognitive-behavioral therapy, schema therapy, and supportive therapy for depression had comparable treatment effects. However, subgroups of patients may exist for whom one of these options is particularly effective. To investigate this, recent "causal learning" algorithms have been developed to identify these subgroups. This thesis aims to apply a multi-arm causal forest algorithm to detect patient-level indicators for differential treatment indications. Statistical tests will determine which variables are crucial in deciding the best therapy for individual cases. The results could significantly impact personalized psychotherapy for depressive disorders. You'll analyze data from a clinical trial conducted in Germany across inpatient and day clinic settings (link to the published trial results).