Anke EhlersFBAFMedSci (born 11 January 1957) is a German psychologist and expert in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[1] She is a Fellow of the major science academies of the UK and Germany.
With husband David M. Clark, she developed a cognitive model for PTSD. Therapy she and others based on that model is strongly recommended for treating PTSD by the American Psychological Association.[3] Anke's research has shown that it is a common problem among emergency medical workers,[4] and that a commonly used therapy for PTSD, psychological debriefing, has little provable therapeutic value.[5]
While finishing her Ph.D., Ehlers worked at Stanford University from 1984 to 1985 as assistant director of the Laboratory for Clinical Psychopharmacology and Psychophysiology.
She moved to Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow in 1993. While there, she lead authored the paper A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder in 1999.[7]
She moved to King's College London in 2000. While there she led a group of people that developed a therapy based on her and Clark's model.[8] She returned to Oxford as Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Experimental Psychopathology in 2012; she retains a visiting position at King's College London.[6]