Johan Bjureberg

Johan Bjureberg

Senior Lecturer | Docent
Telephone: +46852482489
Visiting address: Norra Stationsgatan 69, plan 7, 11364 Stockholm
Postal address: K8 Klinisk neurovetenskap, K8 CPF Bjureberg, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • - Docent (Associate Professor), Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska
    Institutet (2023)

    - Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska
    Institutet

    - Research fellow financed by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History
    and Antiquities and Stiftelsen Natur & Kultur.

    Postdocs:

    - Department of Psychology Stanford University (2020-2021)

    - Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska
    Institutet (2018-2019)

    Education:

    - PhD, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet
    (2014-2018)

    - Psychologist license (2011)

    - Psychology program, Uppsala University (2006-2011)

Research

  • I study maladaptive behaviors, such as self-injury and aggression, theorized
    - at least in part - to stem from emotion-regulation difficulties. I study
    these behaviors and their proposed underlying mechanisms from a
    psychotherapeutic and epidemiological perspective. Beyond studying these
    phenotypes in registries and evaluating if our treatments are efficacious, I
    aim to design trials that examine key mechanisms through which treatments
    work. This has the potential of making already effective treatments even more
    effective and can deepen our understanding of the etiologies of different
    phenomenon.


    Books and book chapters:

    - Bjureberg, J. & Bjärehed, J (2019). Självskadebeteende. Stockholm: Natur 
    och Kultur.

    - Gratz, K. L., Bjureberg, J., Sahlin, H., & Tull, M. T. (2019). Emotion Regulation GroupTherapy for Nonsuicidal Self-injury. In Washburn, J. (ed.): Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Advances in Research and Practice. New York: Routledge.

    - Zetterqvist M, Bjureberg J. Social Processes in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury. In: The Oxford Handbook of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury. Oxford University Press (OUP); 2024:328-348.

    - Bjureberg J, Gross JJ. Chapter 3 Changing the emotion process: The role of emotion regulation. In: Change in Emotion and Mental Health. Elsevier; 2024:49-70. 

Selected publications

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Self-injury is a growing health crisis among youth, and the strongest risk factor for suicide attempts. Scalable treatments are needed but lacking. We have recently shown that a brief digital treatment, IERITA (Internet-delivered Emotion Regulation Individual Therapy for Adolescents), can be efficacious and cost-effective. However, not all patients respond sufficiently to the standard treatment procedure. Now we aim to implement and evaluate IERITA within regular health services and optimize treatment outcomes. First, we will develop and validate a classification tool to predict non-remission (continued self-injury after treatment). This tool will subsequently be used in the second step: a randomized controlled trial (N=341) between 2025 to 2028, which compares adaptable to standard IERITA. Adolescents allocated to adaptable IERITA and classified as likely non-remission in treatment week four will recieve adapted IERITA (e.g., personalized dose and treatment delivery) for the remaining eight weeks. We will (1) follow participants one- three- and twelve-month post-treatment
    (2) use self-reports and blinded assessments
    (3) study distal effects in national registers
    (4) investigate several clinically relevant outcomes
    and (5) conduct cost-effectiveness analyses. If successful, more patients could receive evidence-based treatment for self-injury, and treatment outcomes could be improved. In extension, queues to care may be reduced, and suicide attempts and suicides prevented.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2024 - 30 November 2028
    Suicide is the leading cause of death among 10–18-year-olds in Sweden. Suicide attempt is the most robust predictor of future attempts and suicide. Yet, no evidence-based treatment currently exists for preventing suicide reattempts. Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youths (SAFETY) is a novel scalable family-based cognitive-behavioural suicide prevention program designed to fill this critical gap. SAFETY has shown promise in reducing suicide attempts. In the present trial we aim to evaluate the effect of SAFETY on youth suicide attempts by comparing SAFETY to the active control condition “Enhanced Treatment as Usual” in a randomized clinical trial (RCT
    N=282), recruiting from five sites across Sweden. The analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis. The primary outcome is the difference in the proportion of individuals with a new suicide attempt between the two groups at 3- (primary end-point) and 12-month post-treatment, analyzed using Pearson´s chi-squared test. Patients will be enrolled and treated between 2025 and 2027. Our initial findings from a feasibility RCT of SAFETY (N=30) in Stockholm indicate that our research protocol, including participant recruitment and treatment conditions, is feasible. The present study will investigate the impact of SAFETY on suicide attempts, evaluate the durability of the effects, and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. The pilot and planning for the RCT have already been partially funded by other sources.
  • Long-term effects on adolescents’ suicide attempts, diagnoses, medication use, and schooling after self-harm regulating treatment – statistical method development and analysis of registry data based on an RCT
    SU-Region Stockholm
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2025
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2023 - 30 November 2026
    Suicide is the leading cause of death for ages 10-19 years in Sweden. The most reliable predictor of suicide is self-harm (including suicide attempts). Decades of research have failed to produce reliable assessments of risk factors for self-harm that could be applied with confidence in the clinic. Further, few evidence-based out-patient treatments for self-harm exist to date. Instead, involuntary care is increasingly used in this population, despite evidence indicating that it may worsen prognosis. Two studies will be conducted. Study 1 aims to identify clinically applicable risk factors of self-harm and Study 2 is a randomized clinical trial for youth who self-harm. Study 1 will for the first time assess youth at risk of self-harm prospectively (aged 12 to 14 years) at two timepoints: pre onset of self-harm and at follow-up. Participants will be assessed using a range of psychophysiological, cognitive, and psychosocial measures, with a particular focus on pain-sensitivity. Identified individuals with self-harm will be included in a parallel randomized controlled trial (total N=200) of a cognitive behavioral family treatment targeting risk factors for self-harm and suicide, compared to an active control group. By identifying clinically applicable risk factors and evaluating a potentially effective out-patient intervention, this project aims to reduce the need for involuntary care and prevent suicide in youth.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2023 - 30 November 2026
    Mental health problems in youth is causing incalculable suffering in youth and families. Existing treatments in Primary Care are not fully addressing these problems because they focus on a subset of mental health problems
    are limited in efficacy, and are not provided to most youth in need. Transdiagnostic online treatments addressing mechanisms underlying mental health problems, such as emotion regulation, have been called for. We will include 388 participants aged 12-17 years and their parents in a RCT comparing a 6-week Primary care Online Emotion-regulation Treatment (POET) to a 6-week active Supportive Treatment (ST) during 2023-2025, at several Primary Care clinics across Sweden. Both interventions will be delivered in blended format combining online therapist-supported treatment modules with a video-link session. Findings from our pilot RCT (N=30) demonstrated that the study procedures and treatment protocols are feasible and that POET is promising. The primary study aims are to examine the effects of POET vs ST at post-treatment, 3-, and 12-month follow-up on mental health problems, emotion regulation, and to test whether changes in emotion regulation mediates reduction in mental health problems. The broad long-term goal is to examine cost-effectiveness, for whom the treatment is efficacious, and to show how a brief treatment provided in youth in a Primary Care setting may have a positive impact on the trajectory into young adulthood.
  • VINNOVA
    21 November 2022 - 1 January 2025
  • Emotion regulation for difficult-to-control anger: An experimental evaluation of efficacy and operative mechanisms
    Swedish Research Council
    1 July 2019 - 30 June 2022
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2015 - 31 December 2017

Employments

  • Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2023
  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2018

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