PD Dr. Larissa Wolkenstein

Senior Lecturer

Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment

Licensed psychotherapist (CBT) | Therapeutic director of the Outpatient Center for Psychological Treatment | Supervisor

Office address:

Leopoldstraße 44

Room 108

80802 Munich

Postal address:

Leopoldstraße 44

80802 Munich

Research Focus & Expertise

At the center of my scientific work is the close integration of clinical research and psychotherapeutic practice. As a scientist-practitioner, it is particularly important to me to derive scientific questions from my experiences with my patients and to design my research in such a way that it contributes to the improvement of psychotherapeutic approaches and to the support of those affected.

A particular focus is on the question of whether psychotherapeutic interventions can change memories of traumatic events and what implications this has for assessing the credibility of witness statements. This research creates a scientifically sound basis for dealing with psychotherapy in the context of the administration of justice.

Another focus of my work is on mental disorders in the peripartum period and in the context of parenthood. Among other things, I deal with postpartum depression, the psychological effects of child loss experiences and the effects of (early) traumatization on parent-child interaction. These topics concern central aspects of parental care and family well-being.

In addition, my work aims to identify processes that contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders and may also act as moderators and mediators of psychotherapeutic interventions (in particular emotion regulation, cognitive control, social cognitions and interpersonal skills).

Publications

Semmlinger, V., Takano, K., Wolkenstein, L., Krüger-Gottschalk, Kuck, S., Dyer, A., Pittig, A., Alpers, G., & Ehring, T. (2025). Dropout from trauma-focused treatment for PTSD in a naturalistic setting. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 7: e14491. https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.14491

Seelig, E., Joormann, J., & Wolkenstein, L. (2024). Cognitive–emotional impairments in euthymic bipolar disorder—New insights into emotion regulation and cognitive control deficits. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001479

Aleksic, M., Reineck, A., Ehring, T. & Wolkenstein, L. (2024). When does imagery rescripting become a double-edged sword? Investigating the risk of memory distortion through imagery rescripting in an online trauma film study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 174, 104495.

Ganslmeier, M., Ehring, T. & Wolkenstein, L. (2023). Effects of imagery rescripting and imaginal exposure on voluntary memory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 170, 104409
Ganslmeier, M., Kunze, A. E., Ehring, T. & Wolkenstein, L. (2022). The dilemma of trauma-focused therapy: effects of imagery rescripting on voluntary memory. Psychological Research.

Ehring, T., Limburg, K., Kunze, A. E., Wittekind, C. E., Werner, G. G., Wolkenstein, L., Guzey, M. & Cludius, B. (2022). (When and how) Does basic research in clinical psychology lead to more effective psychological treatment for mental disorders? Clinical Psychology Review, 95, 102163.

Ehring, T., Herzog, E., Wittekind, C. E. & Wolkenstein, L. (2022). Imagery Rescripting in der Behandlung der Posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung. Verhaltenstherapie, 32, 128-138.

Wolkenstein, L., Sommerhoff, A. & Voss, M. (2022). Positive emotion dysregulation in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 86, 102534.

Wolkenstein, L., Rombold-Bruehl, F., Bingmann, T., Sommer, A., Kanske, P & Plewnia, C. (2021). Challenging control over emotions in Borderline Personality Disorder – a tDCS study. Neuropsychologia, 18, 156.

Voss, M., Ehring, T., Timpano, K., Joormann, J. & Wolkenstein, L. (2019). A Psychometric Evaluation of the German Version of the Responses to Positive Affect Questionnaire. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 41 (3), 425-435.

Goldbeck, F., Hautzinger, M. & Wolkenstein, L. (2019). Validation of the German version of the Subjective Vitality Scale - A cross-sectional study and a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Well-Being Assessment, 3, 17-37.

Voss, M., Ehring, T. & Wolkenstein, L. (2019). Does transcranial direct current stimulation affect post-stressor intrusive memories and rumination? An experimental analogue study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 43, 535-549.

Feyerabend, J., Lüttke, S., Grosse-Wentrup, F., Wolter, S., Hautzinger, M. & Wolkenstein, L. (2018). Theory of mind in remitted bipolar disorder: Younger patients struggle in tasks of higher ecological validity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 231, 32-40.

Wolkenstein, L., Kanske, P., Bailer, J., Wessa, M., Hautzinger, M. & Joormann, J. (2017). Impaired cognitive control over emotional material in euthymic bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorder, 214, 108-114.

Zwick, J. & Wolkenstein, L. (2017). Facial emotion recognition, theory of mind and the role of facial mimicry in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 210, 90-99.

Laib, M., & Wolkenstein, L. (2016). Does the Use of Body Scanners Discriminate Overweight Flight Passengers? The Effect of Body Scanners on Body Image. International Journal of Business and Social Research, 6, 1-16.

Laib, M., & Wolkenstein, L. (2016). Factors Predicting the Explicit and Implicit Attitude Towards Body Scanners. Review of Social Sciences, 1, 18-33.

Plewnia, C., Schroeder, P.A., Kunze, R., Faehling, F. & Wolkenstein, L. (2015). Keep Calm and Carry On: Improved Frustration Tolerance and Processing Speed by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). PLoS One, 10, e0122578.

Schroeder, P.A., Ehlis, A.C., Wolkenstein, L., Fallgatter, A. J. & Plewnia, C. (2015). Emotional distraction and bodily reaction: Modulation of autonomous responses by anodal tDCS to the prefrontal cortex. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 9, 482.

Plewnia, C., Schroeder, P.A. & Wolkenstein, L. (2015). Targeting the biased brain: noninvasive brain stimulation to ameliorate cognitive control. Lancet Psychiatry, 2, 351-356.

Wolkenstein, L., Zeiller, M., Kanske, P. & Plewnia, C. (2014) Induction of a depression-like negativity bias by cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation. Cortex, 59, 103-112.

Wolkenstein, L., Zwick, J., Hautzinger, M. & Joormann, J. (2014). Cognitive emotion regulation in euthymic bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 160, 92-97.

Wolkenstein, L., Püschel, S., Schuster, A. & Hautzinger, M. (2014). Emotionsregulationstraining bei bipolaren Patienten – Erste Befunde einer Pilotstudie. Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie, Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 62, 255-263.

Wolkenstein, L. & Plewnia, C. (2013). Amelioration of cognitive control in depression by transcranial direct current stimulation. Biological Psychiatry, 73, 646-651.

Giel, K.E., Wittorf, A., Wolkenstein, L., Klingberg, S.,, Drimmer, E., Schönenberg, M., Rapp, A.M., Fallgatter, A.J., Hautzinger, M. & Zipfel, S. (2012). Is impaired set-shifting a feature of “pure“ anorexia nervosa? Investigating the role of depression in set-shifting ability in anorexia nervosa and unipolar depression. Psychiatry Research, 200, 538-543.

Wittorf, A., Giel, K., Hautzinger, M., Rapp, A., Schönenberg, M., Wolkenstein, L., Zipfel, S., Fallgatter, A.J., Klingberg, S. (2012). Specifity of cognitive biases in schizophrenia – jumping to conclusions and attributional style. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 17, 262-286.

Wolkenstein, L., Schönenberg, M., Schirm, E. & Hautzinger, M. (2011). I can see what you feel but I can’t deal with it: Impaired theory of mind in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 132, 104-111.

Wolkenstein, L., Bruchmüller, K., Schmid, P. & Meyer, T.D. (2011). Misdiagnosing bipolar disorder – do clinicians show heuristic biases? Journal of Affective Disorders, 130, 405-412.

Meyer, T.D., Bernhard, B., Born, C., Fuhr, K., Gerber, S., Schaerer, L., Langosch, J.M., Pfennig, A., Sasse, J., Scheiter, S., Schöttle, D., van Calker, D., Wolkenstein, L. & Bauer, M. (2011). The Hypomania Checklist-32 and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire as screening tools – going beyond samples of purely mood-disordered patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 128, 291-298.

Meyer, T.D. & Wolkenstein, L. (2010). Current alcohol use and risk for hypomania in male students: Generally more or more binging? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 51, 171-176.
Wolkenstein, L. & Meyer, T.D. (2010). Is one's mood affected when interacting with people putatively at risk for affective disorders? The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 198, 576-579.

Wolkenstein, L. & Meyer, T.D. (2009). What factors influence attitudes towards people with current depression and current mania? International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 55, 124-140.

Wolkenstein, L. & Meyer, T.D. (2008). Attitudes of young people towards depression and mania. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 81, 15-31.

Wolkenstein, L. (2023). Postpartale Depression. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2015). Ratgeber Chronische Depression. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2014). Basiswissen: Umgang mit bipolaren Patienten. Köln: Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH.

Wolkenstein, L. (2009). Interventionen zur Verbesserung der Einstellung gegenüber psychisch erkrankten Menschen. Evaluation am Beispiel von Menschen mit Bipolaren Störungen. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2016). Affektive Störungen. In: C. Lorei & F. Hallenberger. Grundwissen Psychisch Kranke. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2016). Störungen im Alter. In: C. Lorei & F. Hallenberger. Grundwissen Psychisch Kranke. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft.

Schuler, M. & Wolkenstein, L. (2014). Psychologie und Sicherheitstechnologie – Psychologische Auswirkungen von Sicherheitstechnologien auf den Menschen und die Einstellung von Menschen dieser Technik gegenüber. Tagungsband zum Symposium “Sicherheit und Freiheit in der vernetzten Gesellschaft“. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Wolkenstein, L., Bauer, M. & Meyer, T.D. (2013). Bipolare Störungen (ICD-10: F30-31). In: G. Juckel & M.-A. Edel. Neurobiologie und Psychotherapie. Integration und praktische Anwendung bei psychischen Störungen. Stuttgart: Schattauer.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2013). CBT in Affective Disorders. In: D. Schöpf (Ed.). New Frontiers, Psychiatric Disorders – New Frontiers in Affective Disorders. ISBN: 978-953-51-1147-4, InTech, DOI: 10.5772/54236. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/psychiatric-disorders-new-frontiers-in-affective-disorders/cbt-in-affective-disorders-new-frontiers

Wolkenstein, L. (2012). Diagnostische Fehlentscheidungen bei bipolaren Störungen: Mögliche Gründe und Folgen. Neuro aktuell.

Wolkenstein, L. (2010). „Eine minderwertige Krankheit“ – Für effektive Strategien gegen Stigmatisierung. Treffpunkte. Frankfurter Zeitschrift für Gemeindepsychiatrie.

Wolkenstein, L. (2010). Wege aus der Stigmatisierung. In Balance. Leben mit Manie und Depression. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Bipolare Störungen, Oktober, 2, 5.

Wolkenstein, L. & Hautzinger, M. (2010). Rezension von “Interaktives Skillstraining für Borderline-Patienten. Manual zur CD-ROM für die therapeutische Arbeit.“ von Martin Bohus und Martina Wolf (2009). Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 39, 62-63.

Academic Background

Since 04/2024: Senior Lecturer at the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment,
LMU Munich
2023: Venia legendi (habilitation) in psychology
10/2016-03/2024: Senior Lecturer at the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment,
LMU Munich
10/2015-09/2016: Lecturer at the
Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment,
LMU Munich

2013: Research stay at the
University of Miami (Prof. Dr. Jutta Joormann), Florida, USA
04/2010-09/2015: Lecturer at the
Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (Prof. Dr. Martin Hautzinger),
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
2010: Licensed psychological psychotherapist (CBT)
2009: PhD
2008-2010: Research Associate at the
Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (Prof. Dr. Martin Hautzinger),
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
2000-2005: Study of psychology at the University of Konstanz and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Scholarships & Awards

2013 Attempto Award of the University of Tübingen
2013 Eli Lilly International Young Investigators Fellowship in Bipolar Disorder as part of the Tenth International Conference on Bipolar Disorder in Miami Beach, Florida
10/2006 - 10/2008 Doctoral scholarship through the Landesgraduiertenförderung

External Cooperations

Other Roles

Member of the MUNIP performance committee