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About Anja

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience practicing psychology. I have worked in research and clinical settings that focussed on the etiology and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, and have been seeing clients in private practice in San Francisco for the past 7 years.

Outside of my office, I love spending time with my friends and family and traveling the world. I enjoy exploring new places far and close – from hiking local coastal trails, to conquering volcanos, and navigating foreign cities. I feel at home in a tiny town called Feld in Germany, my favorite dim sum place in DC, and walking the hills and beaches of San Francisco.

LANGUAGES: English, German

LOCATIONS: In person: in the Castro in SF. Remotely throughout California and Florida.

ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Attending advanced professional trainings and professional consultation groups is important to me because I love broadening my horizon and learning new skills. I’m committed to staying on top of the latest research and gaining insights from frequent feedback - from my clients, colleagues, and leading experts. In addition to evening trainings that are provided by some of the professional associations I am a member of, I recently attended the following in-depth trainings:

  • Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD and related disorders: BTTI

  • SPACE: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions with Eli Lebowitz

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy training: Praxis ACT 2 and ACT in Practice trainings with Steven Hayes, ACT Matrix training with Benji Schoendorff, RFT training with Matthieu Villatte, ACT workshops on precision, values, and experiential work in ACT by Jason Luoma and Jenna LeJeune, ACT for neurodivergent populations with Jennifer Kemp & Drew Carr

  • Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP): ACBS SF Chapter training with Barbara Kohlenberg

I also participate in a weekly peer consultation group that focuses on issues surrounding the treatment of anxiety and OCD, and a monthly peer-led ACT consultation and experiential learning group.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)

  • Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)/SF Chapter

  • Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA)

  • Northern California CBT Network (NCCBT)

  • American Psychological Association (APA) as well as their state (CPA) and local chapter (SFPA), where I’ve also been serving on the board as treasurer from 2016 - 2018

WORK EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

  • PhD, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany (Magna Cum Laude)

  • Clinical Trainee, Maximillian University Wuerzburg, Germany

  • Diplom Psychologin, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS AND PUBLICATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS (for a full list, see google scholar)

  • Merikangas, K., Burstein, M. & Schmitz, A. (2013). Anxiety Disorders in Women. Women and Health. 1257-1270.

  • Schmitz, A., Grillon, C. (2012). Assessing fear and anxiety in humans using threat of predictable and unpredictable aversive events (The NPU-threat test). Nature Protocols, 7(3), 527-532.

  • Schmitz, A., Grillon, C., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., Merikangas, K. (2014). Developmental investigation of fear-potentiated startle across puberty. Biological Psychology, 97, 15-21.

  • Schmitz, A., Merikangas, K. R., Swendsen, H., Cui, L., Heaton, L., Grillon, C. (2011). Measuring anxious responses to predictable and unpredictable threat in children and adolescents. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110(2), 159-170.

  • Burstein, M., Georgiades, K, He, J. P., Schmitz, A., Feig, E., Kattan, G., Merikangas, K. (2013). Specific Phobia Among U.S. Adolescents: Phenomenology and Typology. Depression and Anxiety, 29(12), 1072-82.