Dr Dennis Golm Dipl. Psych., PhD. (Dr. rer. nat.)
Lecturer in Psychology
Dr Dennis Golm is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Southampton.
My main research interests lie within the field of developmental psychopathology. I am interested in the mechanisms through which early risk factors, especially early adverse experiences such as institutional deprivation and childhood maltreatment in general, contribute to the emergence of mental health problems later in life. I am especially interested in biological markers of early adversity.
I studied Psychology at the University of Göttingen, Germany and completed my PhD in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Göttingen under the supervision of Professor Birgit Kröner-Herwig. I then joined the English and Romanian Adoptees Study team as a post-doc and worked with Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke at the University of Southampton and later at King’s College London. I re-joined the University of Southampton as a Lecturer in Psychology in 2018.
Early stress experiences, such as childhood maltreatment or institutional deprivation, are associated with an increased risk of later life mental health problems.
My research tries to understand the mechanisms through which those early life experiences lead to mental health problems later in life. I am also interested in factors that promote resilience. I am particularly interested in the role of parenting and social support.
I am further interested in the development of neuropsychological tasks of emotional processing (e.g., empathy) and social cognition.
For my research, I utilise longitudinal data from at-risk populations and brain imaging methods.