Dr. Björn Schlier

Since October 2023, I am working as an associate researcher at the Chair of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychotherapy. As a licensed cognitive behavioral psychotherapist, I have extensive experience in working with patients with severe mental illness. In particular, I have extensive experience in working with patients with psychotic disorders, treating delusions, hallucinations, and negative symptoms.

My research is rooted in clinical psychology, yet encompasses both etiological research on causal and maintaining factors of psychotic and other mental disorders as well as research on the active ingredients of psychotherapy. My methodological approach is longitudinal research, including therapy process assessment (Lincoln, Jung, Wiesjahn & Schlier, 2016; Schlier et al., 2020), real-time assessment of behavior and symptoms in everyday life (i.e., ambulatory assessment or ecological momentary assessment; Hennig, Schlier & Lincoln, 2020; Schlier, Krkovic, Clamor & Lincoln, 2019) and methods automated prediction (Strakeljahn, Lincoln & Schlier, submitted) and eHealth-interventions. The main aim of my research is to understand, which mechanisms trigger, intensify, and maintain symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions in everyday life. Furthermore, I explore which protective and risk factors are putative targets for interventions. Due to the relative novelty of the ambulatory assessment approach, I am additionally always keen on developing, optimizing, and validating questionnaires and other assessment paradigms for use in ambulatory assessment (Schlier, Moritz & Lincoln, 2016; Schlier, Hennig & Lincoln, 2017).

Finally, I am continuously interested in the topic of (lay) beliefs about mental health and mental disorders. In this field, my aim is to explore how beliefs and stereotypes about mental disorders are associated with people’s behavior. This includes the question what beliefs lead to empowering attitude towards mental illness free of discrimination – both in everyday-life of/by the general population (Schlier, Scheunemann & Lincoln, 2016) and within the health care system (Schlier, Kubera & Lincoln, 2020; Schlier & Lincoln, 2016).

At the Chair of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychotherapy, i am working on elucidating the process, by which certain triggers and risk factors contribute to the onset of psychopathological symptoms. Starting point for this research are theory-based risk factors that have mostly been explored by retrospective assessment, e.g., experiences of discrimination in adolescence as a risk factor for paranoia (Kingston, Schlier et al., 2023). Using ambulatory assessment (and a range of supplementary methods), I aim to elucidate how these risk factors lead to the initial onset of symptoms or their predecessors in everyday life. With this focus, I also continue my efforts to further develop and validate assessment methods, now also including the optimization of diagnostic instruments for use with children and adolescents (Schlier, Ellett, Thompson, Gaudiano, Krkovic & Kingston, submitted).

Education and Academic Positions

Current and past funding

Selected Publications

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

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

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

Schormann, A. L., Buggisch, S., Riehle, M., Lincoln, T. M., & Schlier, B. (2022). Low goal-directed behavior in negative symptoms is explained by goal setting-Results of a diary study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 76, 101740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101740

Krkovic, K., Clamor, A., Schlier, B., & Lincoln, T.M. (2020). Emotions and persecutory ideation in daily life. On the trail of the “chicken and egg” problem. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 129, 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000495

Ludwig, L., Mehl, S., Krkovic, K., Schlier, B., & Lincoln, T. M. (2020). Awareness and rumination moderate the affective pathway to paranoia in daily life. Schizophrenia Research, 216, 161-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.12.007

Schlier, B., Ludwig, L., Wiesjahn, M., Jung, E. & Lincoln, T.M. (2020). Fostering coping as a mechanism of symptom change in cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 215, 416-423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.047

Schlier, B., Krkovic, K., Clamor, A., & Lincoln, T. M. (2019). Autonomic arousal during psychosis spectrum experiences: results from a high resolution ambulatory assessment study over the course of symptom on- and offset. Schizophrenia Research, 212, 163-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.046

Schlier, B., Wiese, S., Frantz, I., & Lincoln, T. M. (2017). Chancengleichheit in der ambulanten Therapie: Ein Experiment zur Bereitschaft von niedergelassenen Psychotherapeuten, Patienten mit Schizophrenie zu behandeln. Verhaltenstherapie, 27, 161-168. https://doi.org/10.1159/000478533

Lincoln, T. M., Jung, E., Wiesjahn, M., & Schlier, B. (2016). What is the minimal dose of cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis? An approximation using repeated assessments over 45 sessions. European Psychiatry, 38, 31-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.05.004

Schlier, B., & Lincoln, T. M. (2016). Blinde Flecken? Der Einfluss von Stigma auf die psychothera-peutische Versorgung von Menschen mit Schizophrenie. Verhaltenstherapie, 26, 279-290. https://doi.org/10.1159/000450694

Schlier, B., Moritz, S., & Lincoln, T. M. (2016). Measuring fluctuations in paranoia: validity and psychometric properties of brief state versions of the Paranoia Checklist. Psychiatry Research, 241, 323-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.05.002

Schlier, B., Jaya, E. S., Moritz, S., & Lincoln, T. M. (2015). The Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences measures nine clusters of psychosis-like experiences: A validation of the German version of the CAPE. Schizophrenia Research, 169, 274-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2015.10.034

Collaborators

Richard Bentall, University of Sheffield

Annika Clamor, Universität Hamburg

David Grüning, Universität Heidelberg / GESIS

Mark Hayward, University of Sussex

Jessica Kingston, Royal Holloway University of London

Katarina Krkovic, Universität Hamburg

Eleanor Leigh, University of Oxford

Tania Lincoln, Universität Hamburg

Stephanie Mehl, University Medical Center Gießen and Marburg

Matthias Pillny, Universität Hamburg

Editorial Board

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