Dr. Roland Mergl

CURRICULUM VITAE – Kurzform

• Seit 04/2019: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Professur für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Institut für Psychologie, an der Universität der Bundeswehr München
• 01/2007-03/2019: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie im Universitätsklinikum Leipzig
• Seit 2003: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in der Zentrale des Kompetenznetzwerks "Depression-Suizidalität"
• 07/2003: Promotion an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München
• 10/1997-12/2006: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in der Abteilung für Klinische Neurophysiologie der Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• 1991-1997: Studium der Psychologie (Diplom) an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München

FORSCHUNGSSCHWERPUNKTE

• Suizidforschung
• Screening und Therapie depressiver Störungen
• Schlafforschung

PUBLIKATIONEN

Psychische Belastung und Störungen nach Fehl- und Totgeburten

• Mergl, R., Hoffmann, H., Hoffmann, S., Bichlmayer, F., Eichhorn, K., Allgaier, A.-K.*, Quaatz, S. M.* (2025). Prevalence of mental disorders in women after miscarriages or stillbirths. Journal of Public Health (Berl.) (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-025-02460-x)

• Mergl, R.*, Quaatz, S. M.*, Lemke, V., Allgaier, A.-K. (2024). Prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms in women with previous miscarriages or stillbirths - A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 169, 84-96.
• Mergl, R.*, Quaatz, S. M.*, Edeler, L.-M., Allgaier, A.-K. (2022). Grief in women with previous miscarriage or stillbirth: A systematic review of cross-sectional and longitudinal prospective studies. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 13(2), 2108578.

* These authors contributed equally to the manuscript.

Suizidalität und Suizidprävention

• Elsner, A., Mergl, R., Allgaier, A. K., Hegerl, U. (2023). Suicide rates during and after the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany in 2020. PloS One, 18(9), e0289136. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289136

• Mergl, R., Heinz, I., Allgaier, A.-K., Hegerl, U. (2023). Munich Alliance against Depression: Effects of a community based four-level intervention program on suicide rates. Crisis, 44, 300-308.

• Köhler, J., Heinz, I., Mergl, R., Elsner, A., Hegerl, U. (2021). The German Alliances Against Depression and suicide rates: a retrospective analysis. PLoS One, 16, e0254133.
• Hegerl, U., Maxwell, M., Harris, F., Koburger, N., Mergl, R., Székely, A., Arensman, E., Van Audenhove, C., Larkin, C., Toth, M. D., Quintão, S., Värnik, A., Genz, A., Sarchiapone, M., McDaid, D., Schmidtke, A., Purebl, G., Coyne, J. C., Gusmão, R., on behalf of The OSPI-Europe Consortium (2019). Prevention of suicidal behaviour: Results of a controlled community based intervention study in four European countries. PLoS One, 14, e0224602.

Stigma

• Heinz, I., Mergl, R., Allgaier, A.-K., Hegerl, U., Rummel-Kluge, C. (2021). Personal and perceived depression stigma in individuals affected by depression and relatives: Results of a survey among attendees of a German depression congress. Annals of Depression and Anxiety, 8, 1106.
• Heinz, I., Mergl, R., Hegerl, U., Rummel-Kluge, C., Kohls, E. (2019). Depression stigma and management of suicidal callers: a cross-sectional survey of crisis hotline counselors. BMC Psychiatry, 19, 342.

Diagnostik und Therapie depressiver Störungen

• Hegerl, U., Mergl, R. (2025). Leichte Depression und Dysthymie. In: N. Bergemann, T. Messer (Hrsg.), Psychopharmakotherapie bei speziellen Patientengruppen. Heidelberg: Springer. (im Druck)

• Mergl, R., Allgaier, A.-K., Hautzinger, M., Coyne, J. C, Hegerl, U., Henkel, V. (2018). One-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of sertraline and cognitive behavior group therapy in depressed primary care patients (MIND study). Journal of Affective Disorders, 230, 15-21.

*Antje-Kathrin Allgaier is a member of the DEPRESSD GDS Group.

Neurobiologische Aspekte der Depression

• Ulke, C., Kayser, J., Tenke, C. E., Mergl, R., Sander, C., Panier, L. Y. X., Alvarenga, J. E., Fava, M., McGrath, P. J., Deldin, P. J., McInnis, M. G., Trivedi, M. H., Weissman, M. M., Pizzagalli, D. A., Hegerl, U., Bruder, G. E. (2024). EEG measures of brain arousal in relation to symptom improvement in patients with major depressive disorder: results from a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Psychiatry Research, 342, 116165. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116165)
• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Biemann, R., Mergl, R., Riedel-Heller, S., Witte, V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2022). Association between self-rating depression scores and total ghrelin and adipokine serum levels in a large population-based sample. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 891325.
• Dogan-Sander, E., Mergl, R., Willenberg, A., Baber, R., Wirkner, K., Riedel-Heller, S. G., Röhr, S., Schmidt, F. M., Schomerus, G., Sander, C. (2021). Inflammation and the association of vitamin D and depressive symptomatology. Nutrients, 13, 1972.
• Schmidt, F. M., Mergl, R., Minkwitz, J., Holdt, L. M., Teupser, D., Hegerl, U., Himmerich, H., Sander, C. (2020). Is there an association or not? – Investigating the association of depressiveness, physical activity, body composition and sleep with mediators of inflammation. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 563.

Schlaf

• Greissl, S., Mergl, R., Sander, C., Hensch, T., Engel, C., Hegerl, U. (2022). Is unemployment associated with inefficient sleep habits? A cohort study using objective sleep measurements. Journal of Sleep Research, 31, e13516.
• Mergl, R., Dogan-Sander, E., Willenberg, A., Wirkner, K., Kratzsch, J., Riedel-Heller, S., Allgaier, A.-K., Hegerl, U., Sander, C. (2021). The effect of depressive symptomatology on the association of vitamin D and sleep. BMC Psychiatry, 21, 178.
• Dogan-Sander, E., Willenberg, A., Batmaz, İ., Enzenbach, C., Wirkner, K., Kohls, E., Mergl, R., Thiery, J., Kratzsch, J., Hegerl, U., Sander, C. (2019). Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations with sleep phenotypes in a German community sample. PLoS One, 14(7), e0219318.

Psychoneuroendokrinologie

• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Mergl, R., Baber, R., Wirkner, K., Schroeter, M. L., Witte, A. V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2023). Leptin, but not ghrelin, is associated with food addiction scores in a population-based subject sample. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1200021.
• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Mergl, R., Wirkner, K., Baber, R., Sander, C., Witte, A. V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2023). Childhood sexual abuse is associated with higher total ghrelin serum levels in adulthood: results from a large, population-based study. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), 219.
• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Mergl, R., Riedel-Heller, S., Witte, A. V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2022). Serum ghrelin is positively associated with physiological anxiety but negatively associated with pathological anxiety in humans: data from a large community-based study. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 140, 105728.
• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Mergl, R., Baber, R., Witte, V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2021). Free triiodothyronine (T3) is negatively associated with fasting ghrelin serum levels in a population sample of euthyroid subjects. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 44, 2655-2664.
• Wittekind, D. A., Kratzsch, J., Mergl, R., Enzenbach, C., Witte, V., Villringer, A., Kluge, M. (2020). Higher fasting ghrelin serum levels in active smokers than in former and never-smokers. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 21, 748-756.

Neurophysiologie

• Mergl, R., Karch, S., Henl, J., Meindl, D., Schöpf, F., Szabo, S. I., Hallweger, P., Heiler, P., Maywald, M., Tschentscher, N., Allgaier, A.-K., Pogarell, O. (2022). Effects of four different EEG-neurofeedback reinforcement types in healthy individuals - A pilot study. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 55(3), 305-316.