Thematically the group’s research activities belong to the faculty’s main research area “health”, with focus on mental health. Research covering aspects of etiology, diagnostics and treatment, and also epidemiology, are part of the group’s approach to mental health. The group has emphasized an open and interdisciplinary thematic profile, where the following topics have been the focused: Anxiety, sleep and health-psychological themes. This last topic primarily concerns coping with the consequences of somatic diseases and modern medical technology, but also research on problems related to addiction or gambling. The thematic main foci have been, and are, treatment research at anxiety and sleep disorders, and includes studies on children, adults and elderly. The research primarily has a quantitative approach with increasing emphasis on randomized, controlled design. The group has not adopted a “dominant” theoretic model, but the main focus in our intervention studies is usually cognitive-behavior therapy.

The BTR wants to strengthen and focus research related to anxiety and sleep. This comprises research projects on children, adults and elderly, but also anxiety and sleep as part of topics related to health psychology. In line with this, the group wants to develop and strengthen research on health-psychological topics. Two areas are of special interest: Coping with somatic disease, for instance lunge- and heart disease, and addictions and gambling.