Joar Guterstam

Joar Guterstam

Affiliated to Research | Docent
Visiting address: Norra Stationsgatan 69, plan 7, 11364 Stockholm
Postal address: K8 Klinisk neurovetenskap, K8 CPF Franck, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

Research

  • My PhD-thesis (2017) investigated the role of the brain opioid system in amphetamine addiction, using the imaging techniques PET and fMRI. Currently, my research is focused on pharmacotherapy for substance use disorders, and biomarkers in addiction medicine.

Teaching

  • I lecture regularly on topics related to psychiatry, addiction medicine and psychopharmacology. I am responsible for several courses for residents in addiction medicine, and the course in biological psychiatry for PhD students in the research school for clinical psychiatry.

    I have also contributed to several textbooks and other educational materials.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2027
    Internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder is an evidence-based treatment in regular health care. Still, a considerable proportion of treated patients do not respond. There is also a debate on the importance of patients expectations’ for therapeutic outcomes. However, experimental evidence is lacking to answer this question. Our aim is thus to investigate the placebo response in social anxiety disorder, and the link between initial placebo responsiveness and subsequent outcome of CBT. First, we will manipulate expectations of anxiety relief. A benzodiazepine (a common anti-anxiety drug) will be administered with correct or incorrect information about clinical efficacy during a public speaking task. Self-reports and moment-to-moment variability in neural response will be measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the manipulation of expectations. The balanced placebo design allows us to dissect the total treatment effect into its components: drug, placebo, and interactions between the two. Second, patients undergo internet-delivered CBT after completing the placebo experiments. This project aims to unravel expectations´ influence on treatment response, and has a two-fold significance, 1) the scientific understanding of the neural mechanisms of treatment expectations, central for placebo, and 2) the development of pre-treatment predictors of CBT outcome which could improve precision in clinical decision making.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2023

Employments

  • Affiliated to Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2026

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Psychiatry, Karolinska Institutet, 2024
  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Karolinska Institutet, 2017
  • University Medical Degree, Karolinska Institutet, 2006

Visiting research fellowships

  • Post-doctoral research, Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, 2019-2020

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