Rianne de Kleine (PhD thesis “Enhancing exposure therapy for PTSD” (2016)) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology. Her research focuses on the efficacy of exposure therapy for anxiety-related disorder. She is part of the research team investigating the (cost)effectiveness of three exposure-based treatment strategies for childhood abuse related PTSD (IMPACT study). Furthermore, she investigates enhancement strategies for exposure therapy aimed at reducing speech anxiety, such as testosterone augmentation (together with the Radboud University and NijCare) and neurostimulation (Leiden University/LUBEC). In 2019 she was awarded a NWO-VENI scholarship for the project: Optimizing Exposure Therapy for PTSD. In this project different enhancement strategies will be tested to optimize inhibitory learning during exposure. This study will be completed in collaboration with PsyQ Psychotrauma unit The Hague and LUBEC.

Rianne de Kleine has been involved in the teaching of several bachelor’s and master’s level courses. Currently, she supervises students for their Master theses.

Besides her work at Leiden University, Rianne de Kleine works as a counseling psychologist at Parnassia Group/PsyQ and is in training to become a licensed health-care psychologist.

PhD Supervision

• Chris Hoeboer: Moderators and Mediators of Trauma Focused Treatment (Leiden University; 2017-2021)
• Moniek Hutschemaekers: Testosterone as an enhancer of exposure efficacy (Radboud University; 2017-2023)
• Marike Kooistra: Optimizing Exposure Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Leiden University, 2020-2024)

Publications