Clinical Psychological Science
The Department of Clinical Psychological Science (CPS) is one of the four departments within the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN). CPS is involved in research and education in abnormal and clinical psychology. The common ground of CPS members is the experimental approach to the study of psychopathology.
Research
Researchers within CPS focus on a broad range of psychopathological conditions in adults, adolescents, and children. Research ranges from fundamental lab studies in clinical and non-clinical individuals for the investigation of basic mechanisms to applied research evaluating the effects of psychological interventions. CPS contributes to both an improved scientific understanding of psychopathology and to improvements in clinical practice like diagnostics and intervention.
Education
Staff members play a large role in the abnormal / clinical psychology parts of the bachelor curriculum of the Bachelor in Psychology and several other master's programmes, including Health and Social Psychology, Psychology and Law, Forensic Psychology, and the Psychopathology specialisation in the Research Master. A large proportion of the staff are also responsible for the master's programme Geestelijke Gezondheidkunde (GGK) / Mental Health curriculum at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences.
Research focuses on:
- anxiety disorders
- depression
- somatic symptom disorder (in particular pain disorder)
- sexual disorders
- eating disorders and obesity
- forensic psychopathology (e.g., antisocial personality disorder)
- legal psychology
Anita Jansen
“Science is a slow process. After years of research we now know more about uncontrolled eating, but we haven’t yet studied on a large scale whether our intervention also really helps people to lose weight.”
Corine de Ruiter
“My time abroad has deeply influenced me both professionally and personally. Looking beyond the borders of the familiar is very instructive in that it forces you to overcome your prejudices.”
Madelon Peters
“I trust that our work will ultimately benefit patients with chronic pain and add to the overall pool of scientific advances in patient care.”
Peter Muris
“From a scientific point of view, Freud’s psychodynamic theory is unacceptable because the key concepts cannot be tested empirically. However, in one respect Freud was totally right: most forms of abnormal behaviour originate in childhood.”
