Profile

• What is the best web address for people to learn more about you?

  http://Www.annelauravanharmelen.com

  
  
• What would you like us to know about you?

  I am a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at the University of Cambridge. My research aims to understand the differential mechanisms that link child adversity with later mental health disorders, or resilience from these disorders. My studies showed that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) is associated with differential structure (van Harmelen et al., 2010a) and functioning (van Harmelen et al., 2013; van Harmelen et al., 2014a;2014b) of key emotional brain regions. I also showed that CEM is associated with altered cognitive functioning (van Harmelen et al., 2010b; 2011). These cognitive and neurobiological effects help explain why individuals with CEM are vulnerable to develop mental health disorders (Ioannidis & van Harmelen, in review). More recently, I have started to investigate the importance of taking a developmental approach in examining the consequences of child adversity. Using structural equation modelling, we showed that the age at which adversity occurs crucial is for its mental health consequences (Harpur, Polek, & van Harmelen, 2015). This suggests that there may be developmental time-windows were children may be especially sensitive to the impact of child adversity. During these sensitive time-periods, children and adolescents may similarly be sensitive to positive influences. In line with this idea, I recently showed that adolescent peer support reduces later depressive symptoms (van Harmelen et al., 2016), and increases mental health resilience after childhood family adversity (van Harmelen et al., in press Psych Med).

  
  
• Expertise

  1. childhood adversity
  2. friendships
  3. mental health problems
  4. neurobiology
  5. resilience
  6. social media
  7. social networks

  
  
• ORCiD

  0000-0003-1108-2921

  
  
• Phone Number

  07460831104

  
  
• Twitter

  (not set)

  
  
• Receive Email Updates

  Unanswered