(Vienna, 06 March 2025) The Psychology Committee of the Medical University of Vienna has awarded prizes for outstanding psychological research at the 8th symposium. Andreas Goreis received the Rudolf Quatember Prize, Sofia-Marie Oehlke was honored as Psychological Young Scientist 2024.
Andreas Goreis, postdoctoral researcher and psychologist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, was awarded the Rudolf Quatember Prize. He received the honor as "Psychological Researcher of the Year 2024" for his outstanding research work on the study of attention bias and the urge to engage in non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSV) in adolescents.
The study "Attentional Biases and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Urges in Adolescents", published in JAMA Network Open, investigated whether visual and textual NSSV stimuli trigger the urge to self-injure or stress responses. Participants with NSSV experience showed an increased attentional bias towards NSSV images, which was associated with increased urges to self-harm. The results contribute to the understanding of risk factors for self-injurious behavior.
Sofia-Marie Oehlke was honored as "Psychological Young Scientist of the Year 2024". The prize was awarded following a review by a jury of experts. The PhD student in the "Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine" program is a research associate at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and received the award for her study "Chronic stress and post-traumatic stress in long COVID: a comparative survey study", which appeared in the journal Current Psychology. Oehlke's research shows that chronic and post-traumatic stress is significantly increased in people with long-COVID. The results underline the need for stress- and trauma-focused treatment approaches for Long COVID.
The prizes were presented by the speakers of the psychological panel and the head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Paul Plener.
Citations:
Goreis, A., Pfeffer, B., Gross, C. H., Klinger, D., Oehlke, S. M., Zesch, H., ... & Kothgassner, O. D. (2024). Attentional biases and nonsuicidal self-injury urges in adolescents. JAMA Network Open, 7(7), e2422892-e2422892. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22892
Oehlke, S.-M., Lozar, A., Goreis, A., Klinger, D., Plener, P. L. & Kothgassner, O. D. (in press). Chronic stress and post-traumatic stress in long COVID: a comparative survey study. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-07583-8