Priv.-Doz.in MMag.a Manuela Gander, PhD.
Position: Clinical Psychologist
ORCID: 0000-0001-9669-5561
E-Mail: manuela.gander@tirol-kliniken.at
Keywords: Adolescents, attachment, trauma, eating disorders, depression, personality disorders, neuroimaging
Research interests: My research interest focuses primarily on the role of attachment trauma for the onset, course and outcome of adolescents with psychiatric disorders (eating disorders, depression, personality disorders, NSSID). Based on my research, I developed a new attachment-based intervention technique that allows integrating themes related to attachment trauma into psychotherapeutic treatment of in-patient adolescents.
Grants, Prizes and Fellowships
| 2016 | Lichtenstein award for scientific research |
| 2015-16 | Research grant for the study on attachment characteristics related to symptom severity in adolescents with anorexia and bulimia nervosa (Jubiläumsfond MUI and LFU) |
| 2013-14 | Research grant for the validation of the AAP for adolescents (LFU) |
| 2012 | Publication Prize of the Faculty for Psychology |
| 2010-11 | Graduate Research Fellowship of the Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Innsbruck |
| 2011 | Foreign Exchange Fellowship for Research at the U.C. Berkeley, California |
| 2010 | Intern Fellowship for Academic Excellence, University of Innsbruck |
| 2009 | Research grant of the University of Innsbruck |
Selected Publications
Gander, M., Buchheim, A. & Sevecke, K. (2023). Personality disorders and attachment trauma in adolescent patients with psychiatric disorders. Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s10802-023-01141-1
Gander, M., Lenhart, L. et al. (2023). Attachment trauma is associated with white matter fiber microstructural alterations in adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa before and after exposure to psychotherapeutic and nutritional treatment. Brain Sciences, 13, 798, doi: 10.3390/brainsci13050798
Gander, M., Karabatsiakis, A., Nuderscher, K., Bernheim, D., Doyen-Waldecker, C., & Buchheim, A. (2022). Secure attachment representation in adolescence buffers heart-rate reactivity in response to attachment-related stressors. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16: 806987. https://doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.806987
Lenhart, L*., Gander, M*., Steiger, R., Dabkowska-Mika, A., Mangesius, S., Haid-Stecher, N., Fuchs, M., Buchheim, A., Sevecke, K., & Gizewski, ER. (2022). Attachment status is associated with grey matter recovery in adolescent anorexia nervosa: Findings from a longitudinal study. European Journal of Neuroscience, 55 (5), 1373-1387. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15614
Gander, M., Fuchs, M., Franz, N., Jahnke-Majorkovits, A. C., Buchheim, A., Bock, A., & Sevecke, K. (2021). Non-suicidal self-injury and attachment trauma in adolescent inpatients with psychiatric disorders. Compr Psychiatry, 111, 152273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152273
Gander, M., Buchheim, A., Bock, A., Steppan, M., Sevecke, K. & Goth, K. (2020). Unresolved attachment mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and impaired personality functioning in adolescence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 34, 84-103. doi: 10.1521/pedi_2020_34_468
Bernheim, D., Gander, M., Keller, F., Becker, M., Lischke, A., Mentel, R., Freyberger, H. J., & Buchheim, A. (2019). The role of attachment characteristics in dialectical behavior therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 26, 339-349. doi:10.1002/cpp.2355
Gander, M., Sevecke, K. & Buchheim, A. (2018). Disorder-specific attachment characteristics and experiences of childhood abuse and neglect in adolescents with anorexia nervosa and a major depressive episode. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 25, 894-906. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2324
Gander, M., Schiestl, C., Dahlbender, R., Ronel, J. & Buchheim, A. (2018). Facial behavior during an attachment interview in patients with complicated grief. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 206, 340-349. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000800
Gander, M., Diamond, D., Buchheim, A. & Sevecke, K. (2018). Use of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System in the formulation of a case of an adolescent refugee with PTSD. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 16, 1-24. doi: 10.1080/15299732.2018.1451803
Gander, M., Oberhofer, B., Sevecke, K. & Buchheim, A. (2017). Integration bindungsdiagnostischer Aspekte in die kunsttherapeutische Behandlung bei Persönlichkeitsstörungen im Jugendalter [Integration of attachment-related aspects into art therapy in adolescent personality disorders]. Persönlichkeitsstörungen: Theorie und Therapie, 4, 277-288.
Link, T., Beerman, U., Mestel, R. & Gander, M. (2017). Stationärer Therapieerfolg bei Patientinnen mit Anorexia Nervosa und komorbiden Persönlichkeitsstörungen: Prävalenz, Therapieabbruch und Gewichtszunahme [Treatment outcome in female in-patients with anorexia nervosa and comorbid personality disorders: Prevalence, therapy drop out and weight gain]. Psychotherapie-Psychosomatik-Medizinische Psychologie, 67, 420-430. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-103271
Bauriedl-Schmidt, C., Jobst, A., Gander, M., Seidl, E., Sabaß, L., Sarubin, N., Mauer, C., Padberg, F. & Buchheim, A. (2017). Attachment representations, patterns of emotion regulation, and social exclusion in patients with chronic and episodic depression and healthy controls. Journal of Affective Disorders, 210, 130-138. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.12.030
Bernheim, D., Becker, M., Gander, M., Lischke, A., Mentel, R., Buchheim, A. & Freyberger, H.J. (2017). Influence and change of self-directedness in dialectical behavior therapy. Psychiatrische Praxis, 44, 266-273. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-104096
Balint, E., Sailer, M., Campbell, S., Funk, A., Klinghammer, J., Gander, M., Gündel, H., Waller, C. & Buchheim, A. (2016) High prevalence of insecure attachment in patients with primary hypertension. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1078. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01087
Gander, M., George, C., Pokorny, D. & Buchheim, A. (2016) Assessing attachment representations in adolescents: Discriminant validation of the adult attachment projective picture system. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 48 (2), 270-282. doi: 10.1007/s10578-016-0639-2
Jobst, A., Padberg, F., Mauer, M.-C., Daltrozzo, T., Bauriedl-Schmidt, C., Sabaß, L., Sarubin, N., Falkai, P., Renneberg, B., Zill, P., Gander, M. & Buchheim, A. (2016) Lower oxytocin plasma levels in borderline patients with unresolved attachment representations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 125. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00125
Gander, M. & Sevecke, K. (2015). Bindungsbezogene Aspekte bei einer Jugendlichen mit einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung [Attachment issues in an adolescent girl with a borderline personality disorder]. Persönlichkeitsstörungen: Theorie und Therapie, 19 (3),213-223.
Gander, M., Sevecke, K. & Buchheim, A. (2015). Eating disorders in adolescence: Attachment issues from a developmental perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-12. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01136
Gander, M. & Buchheim, A. (2015). Attachment classification, psychophysiology and frontal EEG asymmetry across the lifespan. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9 (79), 1-16. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00079
Buchheim, A., Gander, M. & Juen, F. (2014). Klinische Bindungsforschung mit dem Adult Attachment Projective Picture System: Methodik, klinische Anwendungen und Perspektiven. Psychotherapie Forum, 19, 42-49. doi: 10.1007/s00729-014-0011-6
Gander, M. & Buchheim, A. (2013). Internalisierende Symptome bei depressiven Jugendlichen: Ausprägung und Möglichkeiten der Erkennung im schulischen Kontext. Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie, 42, 11-22. doi: 10.1024/1422-4917/a000206