Aguilar-Raab, Corina

Alpers, Georg W.

Ditzen, Beate

Schültke, Leonie

Warth, Marco

German

Mannheim Electronic DOCument Server der Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim

Besser zusammen als allein? – Untersuchung dyadischer Mitgefühlsmeditation

MAnnheim DOCument Server

Erwachsene 
 
 49 
research has been applied to the field of clinical psychology, with first evidence suggesting that cross-
modal emotion processing is altered in mental disorders such as major depression. 
In the present study, we investigated the role of anxiety in multimodal emotion processing. Based on 
their trait anxiety scores, healthy participants (N=33) were classified as either high or low in trait 
anxiety. Participants were presented with 48 emotional picture-sound combinations. The individual 
stimuli, taken from the IAPS and IADS, were either categorised as positive or negative and, as pairs, 
differed in their emotional as well as semantic congruency. Participants rated each picture-sound 
combination on valence and arousal. 
In general, semantically congruent pairings were rated as significantly more arousing than semantically 
incongruent ones. This effect was most pronounced for negative picture-sound combinations. The 
results also show that more anxious participants rated positive stimulus combinations as less positive 
than participants who are less anxious. This effect was enhanced when these combinations were 
semantically congruent. 
To conclude, the findings suggest that not just emotional congruency, but semantic congruency of 
multimodal cues increases feelings of arousal in individuals regardless of their anxiety levels. 
Furthermore, anxious people perceive positive stimuli as less positive. This is of great interest as 
research on anxiety has often merely focused on individuals’ reactions to and ratings on negative or 
aversive cues. One possible explanation for these findings may be that people suffering from anxiety 
have a stronger negativity bias. Future research could further investigate the role of anxiety in 
multimodal emotion processing by using a clinical sample. 
 
Keywords: Affektive Wissenschaft, Sonstiges 
Besser zusammen als allein? – Untersuchung dyadischer Mitgefühlsmeditation 
Leonie Schültke¹, Dr. Marco Warth², Georg W. Alpers³, Beate Ditzen¹, Dr.sc.hum Corina Aguilar-Raab² 
(¹ Universität Heidelberg, ² Heidelberg University Hospital, ³ Universität Mannheim)  
Ziel: Meditation wird in verschiedenen mitgefühlsbasierten Interventionen des letzten Jahrzehnts auch 
in Dyaden ausgeführt. Allerdings wurde noch nicht untersucht, inwiefern der Rahmen – allein oder in 
der Dyade – einen Effekt hat. In dieser Studie untersuchten wir den Effekt dyadischer 
Mitgefühlsmeditation auf das Gefühl sozialer Verbundenheit. Sekundäre Zielvariablen umfassten 
positiven und negativen Affekt sowie die parasympathische Reaktion, erfasst über die 
Herzratenvariabilität (HRV). Es wurde erwartet, dass eine dyadische Mitgefühlsmeditation die 
Zielvariablen über den Effekt einer individuellen Mitgefühlsmeditation mit ausschließlich imaginativen 
Elementen hinaus verbessert. 
Methode: In dieser prä-registrierten Studie wurden N = 50 gesunde Paare paarweise den zu 
vergleichenden Rahmenbedingungen randomisiert zugeordnet. Eine 15-minütige 
Mitgefühlsmeditation wurde entweder dyadisch, d.h. zusammen mit dem Partner, oder individuell, 
aber zur selben Zeit mit dem Partner im selben Laborraum, durchgeführt. Aufgrund der dyadischen 
Datenstruktur wurden Multilevel Modelle getestet. 
Ergebnisse: Insgesamt verbessert die Meditation soziale Verbundenheit sowie positiven und negativen 
Affekt, unabhängig von der Bedingung. Ausschließlich auf Ebene der HRV zeigen sich unterschiedliche 
Effekte in den zwei Bedingungen über die Zeit: Während die HRV in der individuellen Bedingung 
signifikant abnimmt, zeigt sich in der dyadischen Bedingung keine solche Veränderung. 
Erwachsene 
 
 50 
Diskussion: Diese Studie zeigt, dass bereits eine kurze Mitgefühlsmeditation, ob allein oder zusammen 
mit dem Partner, soziale Verbundenheit und Affekt verbessern kann. Das physiologische Profil legt 
nahe, dass Mitgefühlsmeditation zumindest in der individuellen Bedingung einer gewissen 
Anstrengung bedarf. Für die praktische Anwendung ergibt sich, dass sowohl individuelle als auch 
dyadische Mitgefühlsmeditation das Potential haben, sozio-emotionales Wohlbefinden zu fördern. 
 
Keywords: Angststörungen, E-Health/ Digitalisierung 
Feedback After Exposure Therapy: Initial Usability and User-friendliness Assessment of a Mental 
Health App 
Richelle J. Schaefer¹, Aline Posmyk-Schweizer, Prof. Georg W. Alpers¹ (¹ Lehrstuhl für Klinische und 
Biologische Psychologie und Psychotherapie der Universität Mannheim) 
Purpose. There has been a substantial increase in the use of smartphone applications (apps) to 
monitor, evaluate, and manage mental health symptoms. While many treatments could benefit from 
the incorporation of apps, exposure therapy could particularly benefit from real-time data collection 
to help counteract patients’ retrospective recall biases. This small-scale study (n = 16) assessed a 
university developed m-health app called Exposure Therapy Monitoring System (ETMOS) by evaluating 
its perceived usefulness in planning, implementing and evaluating exposure therapy. 
Methods. Six psychotherapists and 10 patients were recruited from an outpatient setting. After using 
ETMOS for one week, participants evaluated its engagement, functionality, aesthetics and information 
quality, as well as its subjective quality by filling out the German end-user version of the Mobile App 
Rating Scale (uMARS-G). All items were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = inadequate to 5 = excellent). 
Results. Participants rated ETMOS with an above average rating on the aesthetics, functionality, and 
information subscales (M = 3.76, M = 4.04 and M = 4.09, respectively) and with an average rating on 
the engagement subscale (M = 3.27). Overall, ETMOS had an above average total score (M = 3.78, SD 
= 0.29) and received 3.8 out of 5 stars on the subjective quality subscale. Additional qualitative analyses 
were conducted to further evaluate the perceived usefulness and quality of ETMOS. 
Conclusions. This study gained valuable information regarding the usefulness and user-friendliness of 
ETMOS. Future research assessing m-health apps for clinical purposes should also take this first 
important step of evaluation into consideration. The next step in clinical evaluation would be to assess 
the short- and long-term therapeutic gains of m-health app adminstration as an add-on to therapy. 
Keywords: Angststörungen, E-Health/ Digitalisierung 
Components, mediators, and change mechanisms of Internet- and mobile-based interventions for 
PTSD: A systematic review and meta-analysis 
Lena Steubl¹, Dr. phil. Cedric Sachser², Prof. Dr. Harald Baumeister¹, Matthias Domhardt¹ (¹ Ulm 
Universität, ² Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie/Psychotherapie Ulm) 
While Internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMIs) might possess the potential to increase access 
to evidence-based therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), comprehensive knowledge on 
active components and change mechanisms underlying their efficacy is largely pending so far. This 
knowledge is particularly valuable to improve the understanding of the psychotherapeutic process and 
enhance future interventions. Thus, we conducted a systematic literature search in five databases 
revealing 5920 records. We included 24 efficacy studies comparing IMIs with active controls, four 
additive/dismantling studies to assess components, and three mediation studies to assess mediators, 


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Besser zusammen als allein? – Untersuchung dyadischer Mitgefühlsmeditation

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