Mia Maria Günak, M.Sc.
Doctoral Student
Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment
Licensed psychological psychotherapist (CBT)
Research Focus & Expertise
- Influence of trauma experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on memory and cognitive abilities
- Trauma, (cognitive) ageing and dementia
- PTSD in older adults
- Identification of psychosocial risk factors for dementia
- Epidemiology
Publications
Frei, A.K., Studnitz, T., Seiffer, B., Welkerling, J., Zeibig, J.M., Herzog, E., Günak, M.M., Ehring, T., Takano, K., Nakagawa, T., Sundmacher, L., Peters, S., Flagmeier, A.L., Zwanzleitner, L., Ramos-Murguialday, A., Sudeck, G., & Wolf, S. (2025). Associations between transdiagnostic psychological processes and global symptom severity among outpatients with various mental disorders: A cross-sectional study. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 32:e70046. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.70046
Cook, J. M., Bovin, M. J., Günak, M. M., Lawrence, K. A., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2024). Psychometric properties, factor structure, and functional correlates of the PTSD checklist for DSM-5 in a US national sample of older veterans. International Psychogeriatrics, 100027.
Wolf, S., Seiffer, B., Zeibig, J. M., Frei, A. K., Studnitz, T., Welkerling, J., ... & Ehring, T. (2024). A transdiagnostic group exercise intervention for mental health outpatients in Germany (ImPuls): results of a pragmatic, multisite, block-randomised, phase 3 controlled trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 11(6), 417-430.
Günak, M. M., Ebrahimi, O. V., Pietrzak, R. H., & Fried, E. I. (2023). Using network models to explore the associations between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and subjective cognitive functioning. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 99, 102768. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102768
Ledden, S., Rains, L. S., Schlief, M., Barnett, P., Ching, B. C. F., Hallam, B., Günak M. M., Steare, T., Parker, J., Labovitch, S., Oram, S., Pilling, S., Johnson, S., the C.E.N. Mental Health Policy Research Unit Group. (2022). Current state of the evidence on community treatments for people with complex emotional needs: a scoping review. BMC psychiatry, 22(1), 1-36. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-04171-z
Günak, M. M., Barnes, D. E., Yaffe, K., Li, Y., & Byers, A. L. (2021). Risk of suicide attempt in patients with recent diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. JAMA psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0150
Günak, M. M., Clark, D. M., & Lommen, M. J. (2020). Disrupted joint action accounts for reduced likability of socially anxious individuals. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 68, 101512. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.101512
Günak, M. M., Billings, J., Carratu, E., Marchant, N. L., Favarato, G., & Orgeta, V. (2020). Post-traumatic stress disorder as a risk factor for dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 217(5), 600-608. doi:10.1192/bjp.2020.150
Carrière, K., Khoury, B., Günak, M. M., & Knäuper, B. (2018). Mindfulness‐based interventions for weight loss: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews, 19(2), 164-177. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12623
Academic Background
- 01/2022 - today
- Doctoral candidate at the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment, LMU Munich
- 10/2020 – 10/2024
- Psychotherapist in training, specializing in behavioral therapy (CBT), at the Munich University Institute for Psychological Psychotherapy Training (MUNIP);
Licensed as a psychological psychotherapist - 05/2022 – 09/2024
- Psychotherapist in training at the MUNIP training outpatient clinic
- 07/2021 – 04/2022
- Psychotherapist in training at the Outpatient Center for Psychological Treatment & Treatment Center for PTSD of the LMU Munich
- 10/2020 – 07/2021
- Psychotherapist in training at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at LMU Munich
- 03/2020 – 05/2020
- Research internship at the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA
- 09/2019 – 07/2020
- M.Sc. in Psychology at Leiden University, Netherlands
- 10/2018 – 08/2019
- Clinical internship at the Traumatic Stress Service, South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust, London, England
- 09/2018 – 09/2019
- M.Sc. in Clinical Mental Health Sciences am University College London (UCL), England
- 09/2017 – 12/2017
- Research internship at the Department for Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology of the RUG, in collaboration with Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorder and Trauma, Oxford University, England
- 08/2016 – 12/2016
- Semester abroad, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
- 09/2014 – 07/2017
- B.Sc. in Psychology an der Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG), Niederlande
Scholarships & Awards
- 12/2022 - today: LMU Mentoring Program of the Faculty of Psychology and Education
- 04/2019 - 10/2023: Scholarship of the German National Academic Foundation
- 01/2020: Dean's List of the Faculty of Brain Sciences, UCL
- 10/2018: UCL Division of Psychiatry Scholarship
- 08/2016: Holland Scholarship
- 07/2016: Groningen University Fund