My main research interest is in the role of body awareness in emotional processing. This is both in the context of transdiagnostic psychological treatment as well as mindfulness. Most of my research projects are applied, although they often involve the study of working mechanisms of interventions and psychological constructs.

A selection of current projects: 

• Effectiveness and working mechanisms of acceptance-based, body-focused treatment for problematic grief (Prolonged Grief Disorder). (PhD student starts in 2024)
• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Sleep Restriction Therapy for Insomnia. (PhD student: Mathilde Looman)
• Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction training (MBSR) on emotional processing and body awareness.
• The relationships between emotional processing, body awareness, and emotional disorders (Depression & Social Anxiety).

Up to 2017, my main research topic concerned addiction. In 2009, I obtained my PhD in Experimental Psychopathology, publishing the first clinical RCT on Cognitive Bias Modification in addiction. From 2008 to 2017 I worked as a research manager in institutes for applied scientific research (IVO and Nivel). There, I supervised research projects on addictions (e.g., treatment, early interventions, etiology, epidemiology) and on the organization of local health care.

I have supervised 3 PhD projects on video game addiction, an online smoking intervention, and on relapse in alcohol addiction.