Philipp Kuwert

Philipp Kuwert
Department of Psychiatry
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Germany

Biography

Dr. Philipp Kuwert, born 1969 in Essen, is a senior psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Germany. He is specialized in psychological trauma research, particularly in the effects of collective mass trauma such as war on the individual and societies. His main interests are the epidemiological effects of different aspects of war trauma, e.g. displacement, wartime rape and as one of his core interests, war children. Together with Prof. Dr. Christine Knaevelsrud (Berlin centre of torture victims, Free University Berlin) he developed an internet-based therapy for elderly war trauma survivors (www.lebenstagebuch.de) and is currently running a rct on it. 2009 he was honoured by the German-speaking Society of Psychotraumatology with the Falk-von-Reichenbach-Award for outstanding research activities in trauma research. Additionally, he is a board member and guest editor of the Journal “Trauma und Gewalt” (Trauma and Violence) and is reviewer of several international journals and scientific societies such as the British Medical Journal, the Journal of Traumatic Stress and the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies and others. He is a certified Balint group leader and is in psychoanalytical training. 2010 he successfully completed his postdoctoral lecture qualification with the thesis entitled “Long-term effects of World War II trauma on mental health in the elderly German population”. Current research projects focus on the psychology of having relatives missing in conflict, the children born of war and rape, and further mediating, “buffering” variables in war trauma survivors. He likes to cooperate with international colleagues and was invited to give lectures at the Harvard Law School, the Veterans Administration Boston, the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the University of Cambridge, Wolfson College.