Dr. Johanna Behringer

Short CV

Johanna Behringer is a habilitation candidate at the Institute of Psychology at FAU and, since 2024, has been working part-time at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Chair of Clinical and Biological Psychology) as a teaching therapist and lecturer in depth-psychology-based and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Following her PhD at FAU and interim professorships in Jena and at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, she has (re)assumed responsibility for her longitudinal project spanning 18 years on the development of personality functioning, psychological distress, and psychological well-being during the transition to adulthood: A Study of the First 18 Years of Life (currently funded by the Lotte Köhler Foundation).

Her research focuses on attachment research and the empirical examination of psychodynamic assumptions regarding the development of mental health problems, particularly structural abilities / personality functioning. Johanna Behringer is an examiner (chair) appointed by the Bavarian State Examination Office for the licensure examinations for psychotherapists and a certified trainer in Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD).

CV

Master’s Students and Student Research Assistants

• Lorenz Eiber, FAU – lorenz.eiber@fau.de

• Mona Wagenbrenner, KU – mona.wagenbrenner@stud.ku.de

• Fabienne Helter (KU) – fabienne.helter@stud.ku.de

Topics for Theses Supervised by Johanna Behringer

During the 2025/26 project phase of Dr. Johanna Behringer’s 18-year longitudinal study, up to two Master’s theses can currently be supervised. Ideally, Master’s students will participate in data collection on body representation in young adulthood, which will take place in Erlangen (in person) from December 2025 onwards.

There is considerable flexibility in the choice of thesis topics. Possible topics include:

• Trajectories of maternal symptom burden between 5 and 17 years after the birth of the first child as a function of maternal attachment representation and exposure to critical life events

• Trajectories of child symptom burden between ages 5 and 17 as a function of early mother–child attachment

• Child temperament six months after birth from the perspectives of mothers and fathers – what are the consequences when parental assessments differ substantially?

• Do securely attached mothers find it easier to let their children grow up?

• Specific psychodynamic research questions, e.g.:

  • Is self-esteem conflict according to Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD) associated with difficulties in body representation?

  • Is structural level according to OPD associated with the degree of positive integration of body representation?

Current Research Projects

• Development of Personality Functioning, Psychological Distress, and Psychological Well-Being During the Transition to Adulthood: An 18-Year Longitudinal Study – project description

• Attachment, Psychological Distress, and Personality Functioning in Adolescents – A Longitudinal Study Initiated During the COVID-19 Pandemic – project description

Completed Research Projects

• Processing of Loss Experiences (Bereavement, Separation) in Adults in the Context of Emotion Perception, Emotion Regulation, and Autobiographical Memory Function – project description

Publications

Link zu ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Johanna-Behringer/research

Behringer, J., & Festini, J. (2025). Bindung im Jugendalter – Übersicht über Methoden zu deren Erfassung, Befunde und Relevanz für die psychotherapeutische Versorgung. Die Psychotherapie.

Kerber, A., Behringer, J., Brose, A., Hörz-Sagstetter, S., Hahn, E., Volkert, J., & Ehrenthal, J. (2025). Personality Functioning. Personality Functioning. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie: Forschung und Praxis, 54(3), 146–159. https://doi.org/10.1026/1616-3443/a000821.

Festini, J., Juen, F., & Behringer, J., (2025). Bindung und psychische Belastung bei Jugendlichen aus Schulen und Versorgungspraxen während und nach der Covid-19-Pandemie, Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie, 74, 563-586.

Raby, L., Verhage, M., Fearon, P., …,  & the Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis (CATS) (2020). The latent structure of the Adult Attachment Interview: Large-sample evidence from the Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis. Development & Psychopathology 34(1), 307-319. doi: 10.1017/S0954579420000978.  Als Gruppenautorin und Mitglied des CATS-Teams.

Verhage, M., Schuengel, C., Fearon, P., van Ijzendoorn, M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., Madigan, S., & the Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis (CATS) (2018). Examining ecological constraints on the intergenerational transmission of attachment via individual participant data meta-analysis. Child Development, 89(6), 1023-1037. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13085.   Als Gruppenautorin und Mitglied des CATS-Teams

Behringer, J. (2017). Das Innere Arbeitsmodell von Bindung bei Erwachsenen. In H. Schauenburg & B. Strauß (Hrsg.), Bindung in Psychologie und Medizin: Grundlagen, Klinik und Forschung – Ein Handbuch (S. 55-79). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

Behringer, J., Reiner, I. & Spangler, G. (2016). Mütterliche Bindungsrepräsentation, Paarbindung und Elternverhalten. In G. Gloger-Tippelt (Hrsg.) Bindung im Erwachsenenalter (S. 319-354). Bern: Hans Huber.

Leyh, R., Heinisch, C., Behringer, J., Reiner, I., & Spangler, G. (2016). Maternal attachment representation and neurophysiological processing during the perception of infants’ emotional expressions. PLoS One (Public Library of Science). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147294.

Söllner, W., Behringer, J., Böhme, S., Stein, B., Reiner, I., & Spangler, G. (2016). Repräsentationen früher Bindungsbeziehungen und Emotionsregulation bei Patienten mit Burnout-Syndrom. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie, 66(6), 227-234. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-106729

Meyer, L. K., Lange, S., Behringer, J., & Söllner, W. (2016) Inpatient and day hospital treatment of patients with depression and job-related burnout. Zeitschrift für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, 62(2),  134-149.

Briggs, S., & Behringer, J. (2012). Linking infant observation research and other paradigms. In C. Urwin & J. Sternberg (Eds.), Infant observation and research: Emotional processes in everyday lives. (pp. 149-159). New York, NY US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Behringer, J., Reiner, I. & Spangler, G. (2011). Maternal representations of past and current attachment relationships, and emotional experience across the transition to motherhood, Journal of Family Psychology, 25(2), 210-219. doi: 10.137/a0023083

Wright, J., Briggs, S. & Behringer, J. (2005). Attachment and the body in suicidal adolescents: A pilot study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10(4), 477-491. doi: 10.1177/1359104505056310

All Publications – see here