Schleicher, Daniel

Habilitation in the field of Experimental Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Faculty of Medicine

University of Regensburg

Licensed as a psychological psychotherapist (certificate of competence in behavioral therapy)

Acquisition of the additional qualification “Group therapy” (06/2025)

Doctorate for Dr. sc. hum. at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Title of the dissertation: "Everyday stress experience and effectiveness of an app-guided relaxation exercise after acute stress - implications for a health app for stress management in childhood and adolescence"

University of Regensburg

Training as a psychological psychotherapist in behavioral therapy

Training Institute for Behavior Therapy Regensburg

Master of Arts Criminology and Violence Research

University of Regensburg

Master of Science Psychology

University of Regensburg

Bachelor of Science Psychology

University of Regensburg

Psychological psychotherapist at the Psychiatric Institute Outpatient Clinic of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at the University of Regensburg

medbo district hospital Regensburg

Psychologist at the Psychiatric Day Clinic of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Regensburg

medbo district hospital Regensburg

Psychotherapist in training at the Psychiatric Institute Outpatient Clinic and Day Clinic

medbo Amberg

Psychotherapist in training in the teaching practice of Dipl.-Psych. Dr. phil. Eva Sagstetter

Institute outpatient clinic of the Training Institute for Behavioral Therapy Regensburg

Research associate at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

University Hospital Regensburg

Student and Research Assistantat the Department of Medical Psychology, Psychological Diagnostics and Methodology

University of Regensburg

Schleicher, D., Käss, C., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Jacob, R., Kandsperger, S., & Brunner, R. (2026). Measuring proactive-instrumental aggression in adolescents and young adults—Development and preliminary validity evidence for the Degree-of-Quiz-Difficulty Paradigm. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1876347. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1876347 (external link, opens in a new window) 

Schleicher, D., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Kandsperger, S., & Brunner, R. (2026). Post-traumatic stress following social media war violence: Role of empathy and emotional awareness in youth. BJPsych Open, 12(4), e150. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2026.12014 (external link, opens in a new window)

Goetz, L., Jarvers, I., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Neumann, I. D., Brunner, R., & Kandsperger, S. (2026). Relationship of oxytocin and cortisol response to psychosocial stress in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Scientific Reports, 16(1), 10496. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44831-8 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jacob, R., Otto, A., Jarvers, I., Kandsperger, S., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Malloni, W. M., Neumann, I. D., & Brunner, R. (2026). The influence of psychosocial stress on functional connectivity and neuroendocrine markers in adolescents with depressive and comorbid anxiety disorders: A study protocol. BMC Psychiatry, 26, 39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07689-0 (external link, opens in a new window)

von Perponcher, E., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Heidingsfelder, E., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Schleicher, D. (2025). Characterisation of a university student sample with a lifetime history of non-suicidal self-injury: mixed-methods analysis of stress factors, coping mechanisms and reasons for self-injury. BJPsych Open, 11(6), e279. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2025.10893 (external link, opens in a new window)

Ecker, A., Preece, D. A., Schleicher, D., Jacob, R., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2025). Emotional blind spots and dark minds: How alexithymia and mindfulness shape the link between Dark Triad personality traits and psychopathology. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1677305. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1677305 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jarvers, I., Degmayr, R., Otto, A., Jacob, R., Malloni, W., Kandsperger, S., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Wiesinger, I., Wendl, C., Greenlee, M., & Brunner, R. (2025). The relationship between precuneus thickness and psychopathology in adolescent females with anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.24591 (external link, opens in a new window)

Hornstein, L., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2025). Dark Triad traits, alexithymia, and emotion regulation as predictors of depression, anxiety, and stress in clinical and non-clinical samples. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1674630. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1674630 (external link, opens in a new window)

Ecker, A., Jarvers, I., Jacob, R., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Schleicher, D. (2025). Temperament and personality: Preliminary evidence of possible relationships with multifactorial stress reactivity in healthy adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1613000. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1613000 (external link, opens in a new window)

Rodríguez-Toscano, E., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2025). Exploring the mental health impact of COVID-19 on parents of young children: Anxiety, depression, and contributing factors. BMC Public Health, 25, 2174. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23467-9 (external link, opens in a new window)

Baumann, N., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Kandsperger, S., Preece, D. A., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2025). The relationship between alexithymia, non-suicidal self-injury, and emotion regulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 384, 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.05.009 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jarvers, I., Heidingsfelder, E., Ecker, A., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Schleicher, D. (2025). Characteristics of self-injurious behaviour and early traumatic experiences: Associations with emotional reactivity, depression and aggression in university students. BJPsych Open, 11(2), e45. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.862 (external link, opens in a new window)

Ecker, A., Fritsch, C., Schleicher, D., Jacob, R., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2025). The effect of a one-time mindfulness intervention on body and mind in healthy adolescents using multimodal measurements. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15, 1503379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1503379 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Donabauer, P., Kampa, K., Weißenbacher, M., Schleicher, D., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Ludwig, B. (2024). M.I.N.I.-KID interviews with adolescents: A corpus-based language analysis of adolescents with depressive disorders and the possibilities of continuation using Chat GPT. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1425820 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jarvers I., Kormann E., Schleicher D., Ecker A., Kandsperger, S. & Brunner, R. (2024). Impact of alexithymia, speech problems and parental emotion recognition on internalizing and externalizing problems in preschoolers. PLoS ONE, 19(9): e0310244. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310244 (external link, opens in a new window)

Krempel, R., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Brunner, R., & Kandsperger, S. (2024). Sleep quality and the cortisol and alpha-amylase awakening responses in adolescents with depressive disorders. BJPsych Open, 10(5), e140.
https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.730 (external link, opens in a new window)

Schleicher, D., Jarvers, I., Kocur, M., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Ecker, A. (2024). Does it need an app?–Differences between app-guided breathing and natural relaxation in adolescents after acute stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 107148.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107148 (external link, opens in a new window)

Ecker, A., Jarvers, I., Kocur, M., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R. & Schleicher, D. (2024). Multifactorial stress reactivity to virtual TSST-C in healthy children and adolescents—It works, but not as well as a real TSST-C. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 160, 106681.
doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106681
(EDITOR’S CHOICE ARTICLE)

Kick, L., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Kandsperger, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2024). Alexithymia as a mediator between adverse childhood events and the development of psychopathology: a metaanalysis. Front. Psychiatry, 15:1412229. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1412229 (external link, opens in a new window)

Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Kandsperger, S., Otto, A., & Brunner, R. (2023). Anorexia nervosa during COVID-19: loss of personal control and alexithymia as important contributors to symptomatology in adolescent girls. Journal of Eating Disorders, 11, 180.
doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00905-w

Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., & Otto, A. (2023). The German COVID-19 Questionnaire for Anorexia Nervosa (COV-AN). 

Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Brunner, R., & Kandsperger, S. (2023). Impact of preschool attendance, parental stress and parental mental health on internalizing and externalizing problems during COVID-19 lockdown measures in preschool children. PLoS One 8(2).
doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281627

Kandsperger, S., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Wirth, M., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2023). Emergency-related inpatient admissions in child and adolescent psychiatry: comparison of clinical characteristics of involunatry and voluntary admissions from a survey in Bavaria, Germany. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02154-3

Schleicher, D., Heidingsfelder, E., Kandsperger, S., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., & Brunner, R. (2023). Non-suicidal self-injury and emotional burden among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional online survey. BJPsych Open, 9(1), E1.
www.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.616

Ecker, A., Jarvers, I., Schleicher, D., Kandsperger, S., Schelhorn, I., Meyer, M., Borchert, T., Lüdtke, M., & Shiban, Y. (2022) Problems or prospects? Being a parent in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Frontiers in psychology, 13.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901249

Kandsperger, S., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Keck, F., Bentheimer, S., Brunner, R., & Jarvers, I. (2022) Emotional reactivity in adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury and its predictors: a longitudinal study. Frontiers in psychiatry, 13.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.902964

Jarvers, I., Kandsperger, S., Schleicher, D., Ando, A., Resch, F., Koenig, J., Kaess, M., & Brunner, R. (2022) The relationship between adolescents' externalizing and internalizing symptoms and brain development over a period of three years. NeuroImage: Clinical, 103195. doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103195

Kandsperger, S., Madurkay, J., Schleicher, D., Otto, A., Ecker, A., Brunner, R., Jarvers, I.: Treatment Motivation and Burden of Stress among Parents of Adolescents with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Presenting to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency Service. Psychopathology. doi.org/10.1159/000526611

Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Kocur, M., Jarvers, I., Nash, C., Götz, L., Otto, A. H., Kandsperger, S. and Brunner, R. (2022). Psychosocial stress induction in vivo vs. in virtuo and the influence of a health app on the acute stress reaction in youths: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 23, 847.
doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06758-z

Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Otto, A., & Jarvers, C. (2022, April 26). The Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children – German version (AQC-G).
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ra65t (external link, opens in a new window)

Krempel, R., Schleicher, D., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Brunner, R., & Kandsperger, S. (2022). Sleep quality and neurohormonal and psychophysiological accompanying factors in adolescents with depressive disorders: Study protocol. BJPsych Open, 8(2), E57.
doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.29 

Schleicher, D., Jarvers, I., Raine, A., & Brunner, R. (2021, November 24). The Cognitive, Affective, and Somatic Empathy Scales – German version (CASES-G). Retrieved from psyarxiv.com/e9vdj (external link, opens in a new window).
doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/e9vdj

Kandsperger, S., Jarvers, I., Schleicher, D., Ecker, A., Wirth, M., & Brunner, R. (2021). Suicidality presented to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry emergency service: Increasing rate and changing characteristics. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 1195.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.708208

Kandsperger, S., Jarvers, I., Ecker, A., Schleicher, D., Madurkay, J., Otto, A., & Brunner, R. (2021). Emotional Reactivity and Family-Related Factors Associated With Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents Presenting to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency Service. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 913.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.708208