Michael Witthöft
@michaelwitthoeft.bsky.social
Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Ruhr-University Bochum
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Zwei Bochumer Sonderforschungsbereiche gehen in die jeweils dritte Förderphase: Es geht um Plasmaforschung und ums Extinktionslernen, also einmal Gelerntes wieder loszuwerden.
Verlängerung für zwei Bochumer Sonderforschungsbereiche
Plasmaforschung und Extinktionslernen: Beide Sonderforschungsbereiche starten in ihre jeweils dritte Förderphase.
news.rub.de
November 21, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Zwei Bochumer Sonderforschungsbereiche gehen in die jeweils dritte Förderphase: Es geht um Plasmaforschung und ums Extinktionslernen, also einmal Gelerntes wieder loszuwerden.
Physical Activity Decreases Somatic Symptom Distress in the Affect and Symptom Paradigm
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
November 7, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Physical Activity Decreases Somatic Symptom Distress in the Affect and Symptom Paradigm
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
Support for Predictive Processing Assumptions on Health Anxiety: Imprecise Expectations on the Origin of Somatic Symptoms Increase Health Anxiety
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
November 7, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Support for Predictive Processing Assumptions on Health Anxiety: Imprecise Expectations on the Origin of Somatic Symptoms Increase Health Anxiety
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
journals.lww.com/bsam/fulltex...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Neue Studie zur Wirksamkeit ambulanter #Psychotherapie mit digitalem Therapiebegleiter bei chronischen Körperbeschwerden 👉 https://presse.uni-mainz.de/neue-behandlungsstudie-untersucht-kombination-aus-analoger-und-digitaler-psychotherapie-fuer-menschen-mit-chronischen-koerperbeschwerden/
October 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Neue Studie zur Wirksamkeit ambulanter #Psychotherapie mit digitalem Therapiebegleiter bei chronischen Körperbeschwerden 👉 https://presse.uni-mainz.de/neue-behandlungsstudie-untersucht-kombination-aus-analoger-und-digitaler-psychotherapie-fuer-menschen-mit-chronischen-koerperbeschwerden/
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Gestern haben über 1300 Menschen für die Finanzierung der Psychotherapie-Weiterbildung demonstriert, davon 600 in Köln, 500 in Bochum und 200 in Marburg. Gemeinsam haben wir deutlich gemacht, dass es JETZT gesetzliche Regelungen zur Finanzierung der Weiterbildung benötigt.
October 25, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Gestern haben über 1300 Menschen für die Finanzierung der Psychotherapie-Weiterbildung demonstriert, davon 600 in Köln, 500 in Bochum und 200 in Marburg. Gemeinsam haben wir deutlich gemacht, dass es JETZT gesetzliche Regelungen zur Finanzierung der Weiterbildung benötigt.
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
TIL that Dale invented the heartbeat counting task, not Schandry, and that it was known from the very first study that people underestimated their heart rate. It was orginally called a heart rate estimation task! journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2...
October 17, 2025 at 4:57 AM
TIL that Dale invented the heartbeat counting task, not Schandry, and that it was known from the very first study that people underestimated their heart rate. It was orginally called a heart rate estimation task! journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
How temporally stable are somatic symptoms induced by a commonly used experimental paradigm? And do they predict somatic symptom distress over time?
These questions were addressed in an Open Access study of participants who completed the Affect and Symptom Paradigm 18 months apart. #PsychSciSky
These questions were addressed in an Open Access study of participants who completed the Affect and Symptom Paradigm 18 months apart. #PsychSciSky
journals.lww.com
September 23, 2025 at 8:47 PM
How temporally stable are somatic symptoms induced by a commonly used experimental paradigm? And do they predict somatic symptom distress over time?
These questions were addressed in an Open Access study of participants who completed the Affect and Symptom Paradigm 18 months apart. #PsychSciSky
These questions were addressed in an Open Access study of participants who completed the Affect and Symptom Paradigm 18 months apart. #PsychSciSky
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation
Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...
www.medrxiv.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Psychotherapists have claimed for >100 years that they provide/adjust interventions in view of the client's characteristics -- but all based on their personal experiences and opinions. Here we have the first-ever system to do so based on evidence.
Evidence-based personalized & optimized CBT skills for depression, based on a trial of 4469 adults. The Resilience Training App will augment the efficacy by 35% overall over the group average best, and by 64% for those whose best option wasn’t this group average best!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Personalised & optimised therapy (POT) algorithm using five cognitive and behavioural skills for subthreshold depression - npj Digital Medicine
npj Digital Medicine - Personalised & optimised therapy (POT) algorithm using five cognitive and behavioural skills for subthreshold depression
www.nature.com
August 21, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Psychotherapists have claimed for >100 years that they provide/adjust interventions in view of the client's characteristics -- but all based on their personal experiences and opinions. Here we have the first-ever system to do so based on evidence.
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
🔥Frisch gedruckt im PTJ🔥: @tkaiser.science , Rafaële Huntjens und ich haben in dem Artikel gängige (Fehl-)Annahmen in der klinischen Praxis im Zusammenhang mit der
Dissoziativen Identitätsstörung (#DIS) aus Sicht der Wissenschaft näher beleuchtet. Ein Thread 🧵: 1/
Dissoziativen Identitätsstörung (#DIS) aus Sicht der Wissenschaft näher beleuchtet. Ein Thread 🧵: 1/
March 19, 2025 at 9:54 AM
🔥Frisch gedruckt im PTJ🔥: @tkaiser.science , Rafaële Huntjens und ich haben in dem Artikel gängige (Fehl-)Annahmen in der klinischen Praxis im Zusammenhang mit der
Dissoziativen Identitätsstörung (#DIS) aus Sicht der Wissenschaft näher beleuchtet. Ein Thread 🧵: 1/
Dissoziativen Identitätsstörung (#DIS) aus Sicht der Wissenschaft näher beleuchtet. Ein Thread 🧵: 1/
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
🚨Rituelle Gewalt - Realität oder Fiktion?🚨:
@tkaiser.science, Rafaële Huntjens, Renate Volbert und ich haben im neuen PTJ das Thema organisierte Kriminalität & Rituelle Gewalt unter wissenschaftlicher Lupe näher beleuchtet.🔎
Hier ist der Volltext🗞️👇🏻:
www.psychotherapeutenjournal.de/2025/2/ptj20...
@tkaiser.science, Rafaële Huntjens, Renate Volbert und ich haben im neuen PTJ das Thema organisierte Kriminalität & Rituelle Gewalt unter wissenschaftlicher Lupe näher beleuchtet.🔎
Hier ist der Volltext🗞️👇🏻:
www.psychotherapeutenjournal.de/2025/2/ptj20...
June 20, 2025 at 1:32 PM
🚨Rituelle Gewalt - Realität oder Fiktion?🚨:
@tkaiser.science, Rafaële Huntjens, Renate Volbert und ich haben im neuen PTJ das Thema organisierte Kriminalität & Rituelle Gewalt unter wissenschaftlicher Lupe näher beleuchtet.🔎
Hier ist der Volltext🗞️👇🏻:
www.psychotherapeutenjournal.de/2025/2/ptj20...
@tkaiser.science, Rafaële Huntjens, Renate Volbert und ich haben im neuen PTJ das Thema organisierte Kriminalität & Rituelle Gewalt unter wissenschaftlicher Lupe näher beleuchtet.🔎
Hier ist der Volltext🗞️👇🏻:
www.psychotherapeutenjournal.de/2025/2/ptj20...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
You know you are old when your former PhD student gives a Keynote at your favorite conference. I very much enjoy the amazing talk by @danielamier.bsky.social on social cognition in schizophrenia at #PuG2025
June 19, 2025 at 7:30 AM
You know you are old when your former PhD student gives a Keynote at your favorite conference. I very much enjoy the amazing talk by @danielamier.bsky.social on social cognition in schizophrenia at #PuG2025
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Pro tip, folks: if you make a figure for a publication, don’t just hand the copyright over to the publisher. Post it on OSF first and then give yourself permission to use it in the first publication and then all future publications. That way, no permissions issues.
June 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Pro tip, folks: if you make a figure for a publication, don’t just hand the copyright over to the publisher. Post it on OSF first and then give yourself permission to use it in the first publication and then all future publications. That way, no permissions issues.
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
"Inside FND" - a new short film about FND
A film that draws on evidence from patients, clinicians and research to counter common misconceptions about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). 🧵
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAv...
A film that draws on evidence from patients, clinicians and research to counter common misconceptions about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). 🧵
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAv...
Inside FND
YouTube video by Jon Stone
www.youtube.com
June 4, 2025 at 12:52 PM
"Inside FND" - a new short film about FND
A film that draws on evidence from patients, clinicians and research to counter common misconceptions about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). 🧵
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAv...
A film that draws on evidence from patients, clinicians and research to counter common misconceptions about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). 🧵
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAv...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Fish see visual illusions the same way humans do. Flies too. And bees. This changes everything about the WEIRD sampling debate in cognitive psychology. New post on @dorsaamir.bsky.social and @chazfirestone.bsky.social's devastating paper.
Keep Cognitive Psychology WEIRD
Back in 2010, Joe Henrich, Steve Heine, and Ara Norenzayan dropped a bomb[1] on psychology with their paper "The WEIRDest people in the world?" They argued that most psychology studies rely on Western...
open.substack.com
June 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Fish see visual illusions the same way humans do. Flies too. And bees. This changes everything about the WEIRD sampling debate in cognitive psychology. New post on @dorsaamir.bsky.social and @chazfirestone.bsky.social's devastating paper.
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
People have a hard time accurately recalling how depressed, anxious or stressed they felt in the past @apajournals.bsky.social #JARMAC doi.org/10.1037/mac0...
June 6, 2025 at 12:03 PM
People have a hard time accurately recalling how depressed, anxious or stressed they felt in the past @apajournals.bsky.social #JARMAC doi.org/10.1037/mac0...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
This might be useful? Focuses on risk in the other direction (assuming subgroup/individual effects from full population effects) but the points also apply to looking at only one subgroup (e.g., clinical) and making inferences about the population. www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
Frontiers | Simpson's paradox in psychological science: a practical guide
The direction of an association at the population-level may be reversed within the subgroups comprising that population—a striking observation called Simpson...
www.frontiersin.org
June 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
This might be useful? Focuses on risk in the other direction (assuming subgroup/individual effects from full population effects) but the points also apply to looking at only one subgroup (e.g., clinical) and making inferences about the population. www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Die Psychotherapie-Weiterbildung in Deutschland ist immer noch nicht finanziert!
Wichtiges Interview mit @evalottabrakemeier.bsky.social, Präsidentin der @dgps.bsky.social in der @zeit.de
www.zeit.de/2025/20/eva-...
Wichtiges Interview mit @evalottabrakemeier.bsky.social, Präsidentin der @dgps.bsky.social in der @zeit.de
www.zeit.de/2025/20/eva-...
Eva-Lotta Brakemeier: "Bald droht die Welle über uns zu brechen"
Psychologie studieren ist beliebt. Doch Absolventen fehlen die Psychotherapie-Weiterbildungsplätze. Eva-Lotta Brakemeier warnt vor einem gravierenden Versorgungsdefizit.
www.zeit.de
May 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Die Psychotherapie-Weiterbildung in Deutschland ist immer noch nicht finanziert!
Wichtiges Interview mit @evalottabrakemeier.bsky.social, Präsidentin der @dgps.bsky.social in der @zeit.de
www.zeit.de/2025/20/eva-...
Wichtiges Interview mit @evalottabrakemeier.bsky.social, Präsidentin der @dgps.bsky.social in der @zeit.de
www.zeit.de/2025/20/eva-...
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Why do scientists disagree? With the amazing @justinsulik.bsky.social, NakWon Rim, Elizabeth Pontikes, and @glupyan.bsky.social , we show in @naturehumbehav.bsky.social how cognitive traits and dispositions align with persistent scientific divides (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).
April 19, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Why do scientists disagree? With the amazing @justinsulik.bsky.social, NakWon Rim, Elizabeth Pontikes, and @glupyan.bsky.social , we show in @naturehumbehav.bsky.social how cognitive traits and dispositions align with persistent scientific divides (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
“The first person you should be careful not to fool is yourself. Because you are the easiest person to fool".”
May 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
“The first person you should be careful not to fool is yourself. Because you are the easiest person to fool".”
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
New interview on the value of exploratory research.
"My brief explanation of this crisis is that researchers didn't say ‘I found something interesting’, but ‘I found exactly what my fantastic theory had predicted, heureka’.
And then they gave a TED talk."
#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky 🧪
"My brief explanation of this crisis is that researchers didn't say ‘I found something interesting’, but ‘I found exactly what my fantastic theory had predicted, heureka’.
And then they gave a TED talk."
#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky 🧪
The crucial value of exploratory research » Eiko Fried
Exploratory research is vital for discovery, but often undervalued. Here I argue it is key to scientific progress & needs defending.
eiko-fried.com
April 21, 2025 at 8:24 AM
New interview on the value of exploratory research.
"My brief explanation of this crisis is that researchers didn't say ‘I found something interesting’, but ‘I found exactly what my fantastic theory had predicted, heureka’.
And then they gave a TED talk."
#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky 🧪
"My brief explanation of this crisis is that researchers didn't say ‘I found something interesting’, but ‘I found exactly what my fantastic theory had predicted, heureka’.
And then they gave a TED talk."
#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky 🧪
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Tobias Teismann desillusioniert uns hinsichtlich der Validität unserer Risikoeinschätzung für suizidales Verhalten. Hervorragender State of the Art Vortrag zur Psychotherapie suizidales Verhaltens beim @dpk-kongress.bsky.social . #DPK2025.
April 9, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Tobias Teismann desillusioniert uns hinsichtlich der Validität unserer Risikoeinschätzung für suizidales Verhalten. Hervorragender State of the Art Vortrag zur Psychotherapie suizidales Verhaltens beim @dpk-kongress.bsky.social . #DPK2025.
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Französischer Wissenschaftler wird an Einreise in die USA gehindert, weil auf seinem Handy Trump-feindliche Botschaften waren. Die USA sind nicht mehr Teil der freien Welt.
Keine wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen mehr in den USA! Kooperiert mit euren US-KollegInnen, um Konferenzen in die EU zu holen!
Keine wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen mehr in den USA! Kooperiert mit euren US-KollegInnen, um Konferenzen in die EU zu holen!
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
www.theguardian.com
March 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Französischer Wissenschaftler wird an Einreise in die USA gehindert, weil auf seinem Handy Trump-feindliche Botschaften waren. Die USA sind nicht mehr Teil der freien Welt.
Keine wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen mehr in den USA! Kooperiert mit euren US-KollegInnen, um Konferenzen in die EU zu holen!
Keine wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen mehr in den USA! Kooperiert mit euren US-KollegInnen, um Konferenzen in die EU zu holen!
Reposted by Michael Witthöft
Wir gratulieren sehr herzlich: Deutscher Psychologie Preis 2025 für Silvia Schneider & @gerhardreese.bsky.social! Forschung zur Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen junger Menschen - Psychische Gesundheit & Umweltschutz als Schlüssel für die Zukunft. 🌍 Mehr Infos hier 👉 deutscher-psychologie-preis.de
March 18, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Wir gratulieren sehr herzlich: Deutscher Psychologie Preis 2025 für Silvia Schneider & @gerhardreese.bsky.social! Forschung zur Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen junger Menschen - Psychische Gesundheit & Umweltschutz als Schlüssel für die Zukunft. 🌍 Mehr Infos hier 👉 deutscher-psychologie-preis.de