Dr. Björn Schlier

Research Focus

My research focuses on how psychological symptoms emerge and change in everyday life, and how they can be influenced through psychotherapeutic interventions. A long-standing focus of my work is on paranoid thinking, delusional experiences, and hallucinations. In particular, I investigate how social adversity, stress, negative affect, and cognitive processes contribute to the development and maintenance of psychotic experiences. Current projects examine, among other topics, the relationship between discrimination and paranoia, as well as the distinction between psychopathological processes and understandable responses to genuine social adversity.

Since joining the University of Wuppertal, I have increasingly extended this research to adolescence and young adulthood. A particular focus is on risk and protective factors for mental health and their dynamics in everyday life. As part of my involvement in the AWARE-study, for example, I investigate associations between discrimination and paranoia in adolescents and young adults. Further work examines family-related and interpersonal influences on depression, suicidality, and psychotherapeutic treatment trajectories during adolescence.

Methodologically, my work places particular emphasis on longitudinal and intensive longitudinal methods, including Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), daily diary designs, and analyses of psychotherapy processes and treatment trajectories. I also work with ambulatory physiological sensors and data-driven prediction approaches. Here, my overarching aim is to assess symptoms states of severe mental illness and their determinants as closely as possible to their actual occurrence in everyday life. 

Another research interest is the development and validation of psychological assessment instruments, particularly brief and change-sensitive measures for EMA as well as instruments for assessing psychotic experiences.

Finally, I study attitudes towards mental disorders, stigma, and the conditions that facilitate non-discriminatory approaches to people with mental illness while supporting autonomy and self-determination.

To summarize, by integrating research on psychopathology, psychotherapy, and methodology, I aim to contribute to a better understanding of psychological distress and to identify implications for assessment, prevention, and psychotherapeutic treatment.

Teaching

I am teaching primarily within the Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Master’s programme in, particularly on practice-oriented preparation for psychotherapeutic work.

A central component of my teaching is my involvement in the Berufsqualifizierende Tätigkeit II (BQT II), particularly in the module Advanced Practice in Psychotherapy II with a Focus on Children and Adolescents. I also contribute to advanced seminars on Selected Topics of Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, including topics ranging from psychotic disorders, affective disorders, personality disorders, and conditions related to sexual health.

Another major focus is the supervision and coordination of student theses. In particular, I am  coordinating our groups Bachelor’s theses program and support students from the development of their research question through study planning and statistical analysis to the preparation of the final scientific manuscript.

Further teaching activities include clinical case-based seminars,  adjunct seminars for different Master’s modules, and courses focusing on personal experiential component in the psychotherapy curriculum.

Outpatient therapy focus

As a licensed psychological psychotherapist with specialist training in CBT, I have particular experience in the treatment of severe mental disorders. One main clinical focus of my work is on psychotic disorders, including paranoia and delusional experiences, voice hearing and other hallucinations, as well as the individual management of psychotic experiences in everyday life. In addition to reducing distressing symptoms, I am focusing on improving functioning in everyday life, autonomy, and quality of life. An important principle of my therapeutic approach is to take the subjective meaning of unusual experiences seriously while at the same time enabling a collaborative and critical examination of distressing beliefs and behavioural patterns.

A further focus is on stigma and self-stigma. I am particularly interested in anti-stigma approaches, ways of addressing internalised negative beliefs about mental illness, and the promotion of autonomy and self-determination within psychotherapeutic and psychiatric care.

Questions surrounding gender identity and mental health represent another, a third area of clinical interest. My focus here is on treatment approaches at the intersection of identity development, social adversity, and psychological symptoms, as well as on non-pathologizing, empowering approaches to gender diversity.

Education and Academic Positions

Current and past funding

Recent publications

Schlier, B., Strakeljahn, F., Kahl, C., & Winkler, K. (2026). Are You Really Paranoid, Just Because They Are After You? Exploring the Underlying Sensitization Processes of Intersectional Discrimination on Everyday-Life Paranoia. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 8(2), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.19263 

Schlier, B., Wright, A. G., Porta, G., Hamilton, E., Poling, K., Bero, K., ... & Kaurin, A. (2026). The impact of family factors on adolescent intensive outpatient psychotherapy outcomes for suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and depression. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 56(3), e70104. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.70104 

Mehl, S., Hautmann, C., Schlier, B., Dorn, L. M. L., Ludwig, L., Teismann, T., ... & Lincoln, T. M. (2026). Efficacy of an emotion-oriented cognitive behavior therapy for delusions (CBTd-E) compared to waitlist in a single-blinded randomized-controlled trial. Schizophrenia, 12(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-026-00737-y 

Kingston, J. L., Schlier, B., Leigh, E., Widyasari, D., & Bentall, R. P. (2025). Social anxiety and paranoid beliefs in adolescents. Jcpp Advances, 5(3), e12280. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12280

Strakeljahn, F., Lincoln, T. M., & Schlier, B. (2025). Predicting experiences of paranoia and auditory verbal hallucinations in daily life with ambulatory sensor data–A feasibility study. Psychological Medicine, 55, e114. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725000881

Schlier, B., Winkler, K., & Strakeljahn, F. (2025). The many roads on the affective pathway to psychosis. A S-GIMME-network analysis of the association between negative emotions and psychosis symptom states in everyday life. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-025-10688-w 

Loizou, S., Schlier, B., Fowler, D., & Hayward, M. (2025). A network analysis of voice hearing, emotional distress and subjective recovery before and after cognitive behavioural interventions. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 275(5), 1477-1489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-024-01916-7 

Lincoln, T. M., Schlier, B., Müller, R., Hayward, M., Fladung, A. K., Bergmann, N., ... & Pillny, M. (2024). Reducing distress from auditory verbal hallucinations: A multicenter, parallel, single-blind, randomized controlled feasibility trial of relating therapy. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 93(5), 328-339. https://doi.org/10.1159/000539809

Strakeljahn, F., Lincoln, T., Krkovic, K., & Schlier, B. (2024). Predicting the onset of psychotic experiences in daily life with the use of ambulatory sensor data–A proof-of-concept study. Schizophrenia Research, 267, 349-355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.049

Schlier, B., Ellett, L., Thompson, E., Gaudiano, B., Krkovic, K., & Kingston, J. L. (2024). Measuring paranoid beliefs in adolescents: A Comparison of the Revised-Green et al.’s Paranoid Thoughts Scale (R-GPTS) and the Bird Checklist of Adolescent Paranoia (B-CAP). Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 52(8), 1319-1327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01187-9 

Winkler, K., Lincoln, T. M., Wiesjahn, M., Jung, E., & Schlier, B. (2024). How does loneliness interact with positive, negative and depressive symptoms of psychosis? New insights from a longitudinal therapy process study. Schizophrenia Research, 271, 179-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2024.07.024 

Schlier, B., Lincoln, T. M., Kingston, J. L., So, S. H., Gaudiano, B. A., Morris, E. M., & Ellett, L. (2024). Cross-cultural validation of the revised Green et al., paranoid thoughts scale. Psychological Medicine, 54(9), 1985-1991. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291724000072 

Siddi, S., Ochoa, S., Larøi, F., Lincoln, T. M., Schlier, B., Zaytseva, Y., ... & Preti, A. (2024). A cross-national investigation of psychosis-like experiences in five European countries included in the E-CLECTIC study: Psychometric challenges in studying their measurement. Psychiatry Research, 339, 116072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116072

Strakeljahn, F., Lincoln, T. M., Hennig, T., & Schlier, B. (2023). The use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies in people with attenuated psychotic symptoms–Results from a two-week diary study. Schizophrenia Research, 255, 233-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2023.03.037

Schlier, B., Buck, L., Mueller, R., Lincoln, T. M., Bott, A., & Pillny, M. (2023). Time-dependent effect of antipsychotic discontinuation and dose reduction on social functioning and subjective quality of life–a multilevel meta-analysis. EClinicalMedicine, 65.

Kingston, J. L., Schlier, B., Lincoln, T., So, S. H., Gaudiano, B. A., Morris, E. M. J., ... & Ellett, L. (2023). Paranoid Thinking as a Function of Minority Group Status and Intersectionality: An International Examination of the Role of Negative Beliefs. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 49(4), 1078–1087. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad027

Denecke, S., Schlier, B., Kingston, J. L., Ellett, L., So, S. H., Gaudiano, B. A., ... & Lincoln, T. M. (2023). Differentiating paranoia and conspiracy mentality using a network approach. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 22732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102291

Kingston, J. L., Parker, A., & Schlier, B. (2022). Effects of paranoia on well-being in adolescents: A longitudinal mediational analysis. Schizophrenia Research, 243, 178-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2022.03.009[S1] 

Collaborators

Richard Bentall, University of Sheffield

Annika Clamor, Universität Hamburg

Mark Hayward, University of Sussex

Pamela Jacobsen, University of Bath

Jessica Kingston, Royal Holloway University of London

Katarina Krkovic, Universität Hamburg

Eleanor Leigh, University of Oxford

Tania Lincoln, Universität Hamburg

Stephanie Mehl, Universitätsklinikum Gießen und Marburg

Matthias Pillny, Universität Hamburg

Editorial Board

Since 10/2022 (Associate Editor) Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice