• “My childhood – your childhood”: Intergenerational transmission of psychological and biological consequences of childhood maltreatment

• ENHANCE: Molecular, bioenergetic, and immunological effects of trauma-focused psychotherapy in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and experiences of abuse, maltreatment and neglect in childhood and adolescence

• Risk- and resilience factors in emergency medical employees of the German red cross after critical mission events

• ENHANCE: Pathomechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder and their relevance for symptom severity, therapy response and remission stability

• ENHANCE: Inflammatory, endocrine and cell-metabolic alterations in posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociative syndromes

• ENHANCE: Immunmetabolic and mitochondrial bioenergetic alterations in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder and their relevance for individual trauma-focused psychotherapy response.

• Transdisciplinary trauma research
• The role of adverse childhood and traumatic experiences in the etiology of mental disorders
• (Intergenerational) Consequences of stress, trauma and adverse childhood experiences with mitochondrial functioning, inflammation, oxidative stress and physiological stress regulation
• Role of trauma-associated immunological, metabolic and cellular alterations in stress- and trauma-related psychiatric disorders and their relevance for therapy outcome.
• Relevance of biomolecular alterations due to traumatic stress and childhood maltreatment for the individual psychotherapy response in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder.

• Introduction into Psychotraumatology (B.Sc., winter term 2024).
• Psychological Assessment and diagnostic (M.Sc. KliPP; winter term 2023)
• Diagnostic and therapy of complex posttraumatic stress disorders (M.Sc.; winter & summer term 2020-2023)
• Practical training in Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (M.Sc.; winter & summer term 2020-2023)
• Nutrition and mental health (M.Sc. winter term 2018)
• External:
  Summer term 2018: Molecular psychotraumatologie meets molecular nutritional science: Does healthy nutrition help to maintain mental health? Summer school of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

2024	Startup funding, ProTrainU, Ulm University (10.000 €) to investigate relevant single nucleotide genpolymorphisms within the immune-metabolism of posttraumatic stress disorder
2024	PhD Award of ther Clemens-Gabriel-Foundation, Ulm University
2024	Research award of the German speaking society of Psychotraumatology (DeGPT) and the Falk-von-Reichenbach-Foundation
2024	Startup funding, Clemens-Gabriel-Foundation, Ulm University (3.500 €) to immunological phenotype complex posttraumatic disorders.
2023	Travel award of the German speaking society of Psychotraumatology (DeGPT)
2022	Start-up funding, Support Programme for Female Researchers Ulm University (15.000 €) to investigate immunological and mitochondrial alterations in posttraumatic stress disorder due to sexual and physical abuse in childhood and their relevance for psychotherapy response
2020	Travel award of the German speaking society of Psychotraumatology (DeGPT)
2020	Poster award of the German speaking society of Psychotraumatology (DeGPT)
2019 – 2022	PhD scholarship of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation

Hitzler, M., Matits, L., Gumpp, A.M., Bach, A.M., Ziegenhain, U., Gao, W., Kolassa, I.T., & Behnke, A. (2023) Longitudinal course of endocannabinoids and N-acylethanolamines in the hair of mothers and their children in the first year postpartum: Investigating the relevance of maternal childhood maltreatment experiences. Psychological Medicine, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291723001204

Sauer, K. S., Wendler-Bödicker, C., Boos, A., Niemeyer, H., Palmer, S., Rojas, R., ... & Hitzler, M. (2023). Treatment of Comorbid Disorders, Syndromes, and Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Related to Childhood Maltreatment with STAIR-NT. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie. https://doi.org/10.1026/1616-3443/a000686

Köhler-Dauner, F., Mayer, I., Hitzler, M., Karabatsiakis, A., Matits, L., Bach, A. M., ... & Ziegenhain, U. (2022). Atypical maternal interaction is associated with elevated levels of hair cortisol in children. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.994882

Rojas, R., Hitzler, M., Palmer, S., Sauer, K. S., Wendler-Bödicker, C., Boos, A., ... & Niemeyer, H. (2022). Complex Trauma Symptoms after Childhood Maltreatment: Strengths and Challenges of the Therapy Program STAIR-NT. Verhaltenstherapie, 32(3), 117-127. https://doi.org/10.1159/000526594

Hitzler, M., Behnke, A., Gündel, H., Ziegenhain, U., Kindler, H., Kolassa, I. T., & Zimmermann, J. (2022). Sources of social support for postpartum women with a history of childhood maltreatment: Consequences for perceived stress and general mental health in the first year after birth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 134, 105911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105911

Hitzler, M., Bach, A. M., Köhler-Dauner, F., Gündel, H., & Kolassa, I. T. (2022). Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment Among Postpartum Women – Prevalence of Psychosocial Risk Factors for Child Welfare: An Independent Replication Study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.836077

Karrasch, S., Hitzler, M., Behnke, A., Tumani, V., Kolassa, I. T., & Rojas, R. (2021). Chronic and traumatic stress among Emergency Medical Services personnel. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 49, 204-217. https://doi.org/10.1026/1616-3443/a000600

*Karrasch, S., *Hitzler, M., S. Gumpp, A., & Kolassa, I.T. (2020). Biomolecular consequences of chronic and traumatic stress and their reversibility through mind-body interventions. Verhaltenstherapie, 30(1), 28-42. https://doi.org/10.1159/000505380
* shared first authorship

Behnke, A., Rojas, R., Karrasch, S., Hitzler, M., & Kolassa, I. T. (2019). Deconstructing traumatic mission experiences: Identifying critical incidents and their relevance for the mental and physical health among emergency medical service personnel. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2305. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02305

Hitzler, M, Karabatsiakis, A., & Kolassa, I.T. (2019). Biomolecular vulnerability factors of mental disorders. Influence of chronic and traumatic stress on the immune system, free radicals and mitochondria. Psychotherapeut, 64, 329-348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00278-019-0366-9

“Social Support for Mothers with a History of Childhood Maltreatment: Protective Effects on Stress Perception and Mental Health”. Poster & Short Talk presented at the annual Conference of the German speaking Society of Psychotraumatology, DeGPT, 2020, Berlin, Germany.

“Lifelong Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment: Psychosocial Risk Factors for Child Welfare”. Poster & Short Talk presented at the annual Conference of the German speaking Society of Psychotraumatology, DeGPT, 2020, Berlin, Germany.

“Alterations of the serum N-glycan profile in female patients with Major Depressive Disorder”. Talk at the Conference of the German Endocrine Brain Immune Network, GEBIN, 2019, Berlin, Germany.

“Alterations of the serum N-glycan profile in female patients with Major Depressive Disorder”. Poster presented at 26th Conference of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, PNIRS, 2019, Berlin, Germany.

“Investigating intergenerational gene × environment interaction of allelic variation in FKBP5 and childhood maltreatment on hair steroid levels in mother-infant dyads“. Talk at the Conference of „Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde“, DGPPN, 2018, Berlin.

• Journal of Mental Health and Prevention

• Journal of Psychoneuroendocrinology