Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Position: PHD Student
sarah.macura@meduniwien.ac.at
Keywords
Adolescent Psychology; Child Abuse; child and adolescent psychiatry; Child Psychology; Evidence-Based Practice; Interpersonal Relations; Patient Safety; Psychophysiology; Psychotherapeutic Processes; Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute; Stress, Psychological
Research group(s)
- Stress in Childhood and Adolescence (SCAR-Unit)
Head: Oswald D. Kothgassner
Research Area: Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, Stress Mechanisms, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Virtual Reality, Ecological Momentary Assessments, Neuroscience
Members:
Research interests
I am a clinical psychologist, PhD student, and leader of a multidisciplinary team developing a child and staff protection concept at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In this role, I provide clinical-psychological assessment, counseling, and treatment to children and adolescents, focusing on stress and internalizing disorders following interpersonal trauma, while also dedicating myself to improving healthcare services, well-being, and the protection of young patients. Likewise, I devoted my research efforts to youth experiencing distress resulting from (interpersonal) trauma, with an emphasis on physiological and hormonal foundations of (complex) posttraumatic stress disorder ([C-]PTSD), psychophysiological regulation processes, and the optimization of trauma treatments, drawing from my clinical experiences with trauma-focused cognitive-behavior therapy. I'm particularly intrigued by the coordination of behaviors, biological, and affective responses in youth with (C-)PTSD during dyadic social interactions, known as interpersonal synchrony. As a key factor in bonding and in the regulation of physiological and emotional responses interpersonal synchrony appears to be crucial for youth with (C-)PTSD. Consequently, my doctoral thesis aims to provide an integrative psychophysiological understanding of the interpersonal biological and behavioral dynamics involved in regulation mechanisms within parent-child and therapist-child interactions during evidence-based trauma treatment for young individuals with interpersonal trauma and (C-)PTSD.