Christoph Nissen

Function: Professeur ordinaire, Médecin-chef de service

Group name: Sleep research in psychiatry

Group type: Main

Domains: Development and Plasticity, Affective and Social Neurosciences

Keywords: insomnia, mental health, psychiatry, sleep, sleep disorders

Research activities

Sleep and mental health are highly interrelated. Our overarching aim is to investigate and modulate sleep to contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology and development of new treatments for mental disorders.

Our work is grouped into interlinked lines of research that integrate a variety of methods, from non-invasive brain stimulation to psychotherapeutic interventions:

SLEEPmodulation aims to develop a novel sleep-based treatment technology for major depression based on auditory closed-loop modulation of sleep slow waves and related neuroplasticity processes.
SLEEPexpert strives to improve sleep in patients with mental disorders based on a behavioral treatment program for insomnia. We test the hypotheses that the intervention improves sleep and other relevant health outcomes.
SLEEPwindow aims to evaluate the efficacy of a brief behavioral treatment for insomnia based on bedtime restriction therapy.
SLEEPperception explores the neural basis of sleep-wake perception and aims to develop innovative insomnia treatments. We test the concepts that sleep-specific brain activity patterns during NREM sleep and their coordination are linked to sleep perception. Additionally, we’re investigating non-invasive auditory brain stimulation’s potential to modulate this activity and sleep-wake perception.

Key publications

Feasibility, efficacy, and functional relevance of automated auditory closed-loop suppression of slow-wave sleep in humans.

Fehér, K. D., Omlin, X., Tarokh, L., Schneider, C. L., Morishima, Y., Züst, M. A., Wunderlin, M., Koenig, T., Hertenstein, E., Ellenberger, B., Ruch, S., Schmidig, F., Mikutta, C., Trinca, E., Senn, W., Feige, B., Klöppel, S., & Nissen, C.

Journal of sleep research, 32(4), e13846 (2023)

Sleep recalibrates homeostatic and associative synaptic plasticity in the human cortex.

Kuhn, M., Wolf, E., Maier, J. et al.

Nat Commun 7, 12455 (2016)

Synaptic plasticity model of therapeutic sleep deprivation in major depression

Wolf, E; Kuhn, M; Normann, C; Mainberger;, Maier, JG; Maywald, S.; Bredl, A.; Klöppel, S.; Biber, K; van Calker, D; F Feige B, Biber K, Riemann, D; Sterr, A; Nissen, C.

Sleep Med Rev, 30, 53-62 (2016)

Become your own SLEEPexpert: design, implementation and preliminary evaluation of a pragmatic behavioral treatment program for insomnia in inpatient psychiatric care.

Schneider, C.L., Hertenstein, E., Fehér, K., Maier, J.G., Cantisani, A., Moggi, F., Berger, T., Nissen, C.

Sleep Advances (2020)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, combined with bedtime restriction, versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia: a randomized controlled pilot trial

Hertenstein, E., Trinca, E., Schneider, C.L., Fehér, K.D., Johann, A.F. & Nissen, C

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (2023)

See the complete list of the publications

Contact

Département de Psychiatrie
Rue du 31-décembre, 8
christoph.nissen@hcuge.ch