Maja Nyström-Hansen

Maja Nyström-Hansen serves as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Psychology within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, specializing in perinatal mental health and developmental psychopathology. Her work focuses on early intervention strategies, parent-child interaction dynamics, and biological stress markers in high-risk maternal populations, contributing to the Center for Early Intervention and Family Research since 2023.

Her academic foundation includes a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Copenhagen (2018), a Master's degree in Psychology (Cand.Psych.) from the same institution (2013), and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology (Ba.Psych.) (2010). Her doctoral research examined trauma and dissociative processes as risk factors in schizophrenia development.

Dr. Nyström-Hansen's research program investigates how severe maternal mental disorders impact prenatal caregiving representations and infant outcomes, with particular emphasis on cortisol as a physiological mediator. She explores trauma-informed approaches to developmental psychopathology, examining how maternal adversity during pregnancy disrupts early mother-infant interactions and influences child development trajectories through biological and psychological pathways.

Analysis of her 2015-2024 publications reveals consistent focus on quantifying stress biomarkers in perinatal psychiatry, developing assessment tools for caregiving representations, and elucidating mechanisms linking maternal mental illness to disrupted parenting. Key methodological approaches include longitudinal cortisol measurement, cross-sectional clinical assessments, and validation of psychological instruments for at-risk perinatal populations.

She maintains active collaboration with the WARM Study (Wellbeing And Resilience) consortium and previously contributed to research at the Capital Region's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department (2021-2022). Her current work at the Center for Early Intervention and Family Research integrates clinical psychology with developmental science to advance early intervention models for families facing complex mental health challenges.