Prof. Dr. Frank Padberg
Senior Consultant
Main Focus
Our research focus is on the development of novel non-pharmacological interventions for difficult-to-treat affective disorders, i.e. therapy-resistant or chronic depression or depression with significant psychiatric co-morbidity (e.g. borderline personality disorder, posttraumatic disorder - complex affective disorders).
Several research tracks have been established to achieve this goal: 1) characterization of clinical, psychological (e.g. trauma, resilience, attachment, mentalization) and neurobiological features (e.g. oxytocin, HPA regulation) of these patients, 2) investigation of novel psychotherapeutic approaches (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy - CBASP), 3) development of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods (e.g. repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation - rTMS, transcranial direct current stimulation - tDCS) to provide safe and effective therapeutic interventions. The third research track is most advanced and has recently been funded by the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Currently, we are particularly interested in characterizing the interaction between NIBS and prefrontal neural networks using fMRI and EEG as well as sequentially conducting high-quality, randomized, controlled clinical trials with rTMS and tDCS.
Accepting PhD students in 2025: To be determined.
Website:
The website of the BMBF consortium:
https://www.gcbs.network
Google scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tkGQdqQAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao
Research gate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Padberg2