Elena Panagiotopoulou has an interdisciplinary background in psychoanalysis and neuroscience. She holds a PhD in Social Cognitive Neuroscience from UCL, where she completed all her academic studies. Her PhD was supervised by Professors Katerina Fotopoulou and Alessandra Lemma. She has also undertaken a 3-year clinical training in psychodynamic psychotherapy for couples and individuals at Tavistock Relationships (TR). Her research interests revolve around body perception and interoception with a focus on the perinatal period. Elena currently serves as Programme Director of the MSc Early Child Development and Clinical Applications at UCL and Anna Freud and is also a Visiting Clinician at TR, offering psychotherapy sessions to couples and individuals.
Publications
Munns, L. B., Crossland, A. E., McPherson, M., Panagiotopoulou, E., & Preston, C. E. J. (2024). Developing a new measure of retrospective body dissatisfaction: links to postnatal bonding and psychological well-being. Journal of reproductive and infant psychology, 1–16. Advance online publication.
Jenkinson, P. M., Panagiotopoulou, E., Koukoutsakis, A., & Fotopoulou, A. (2024). Greater Risk Taking in Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance and History: An Experimental and Computational Study. Aesthetic plastic surgery, 48(13), 2561–2572.
Jenkinson, P. M., Koukoutsakis, A., Panagiotopoulou, E., Vagnoni, E., Demartini, B., Nistico, V., Gambini, O., Christakou, A., & Fotopoulou, A. (2023). Body appearance values modulate risk aversion in eating restriction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 152(12), 3418–3432.
Vainieri, I., Thackeray, L., Hillman, S., Perez, A., Roberts, R. & Panagiotopoulou, E. (2023). Evaluating podcasts as a science communication assessment for postgraduate students. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 1-14.
Lord, H., O’Keeffe, S., Panagiotopoulou, E. & Midgley, N. (2023). Exploring Parental Perspectives on Dropout from Treatment for Adolescent Depression. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 22(2), 169–178.
Chiang, C. P., Hayes, D., & Panagiotopoulou, E. (2023). Apps targeting anorexia nervosa in young people: a systematic review of active ingredients. Translational behavioral medicine, 13(6):406-417.
Panagiotopoulou, E., Crucianelli, L., Lemma, A., & Fotopoulou, A. (2021). Identifying with the Beautiful: Facial attractiveness effects on unisensory and multisensory self-other distinction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(7):1314-1329.
Stumpfogger, N. & Panagiotopoulou, E. (2021). Blurred Body Boundaries of First-Time Mothers: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Neuropsychoanalysis, 23(3): 1-13.
Perez, A., Panagiotopoulou, E., Curtis, P., & Roberts, R. (2021). Barriers and facilitators to mood and confidence in pregnancy and early parenthood during COVID-19 in the UK: A mixed-methods synthesis survey. BJPsych Open, 7(4): e107.
Panagiotopoulou, E., Peiris, C., & Hayes, D. (2021). Behaviour Change Techniques in mobile apps targeting self-harm in young people: a systematic review. Translational Behavioural Medicine, 11(3), 832–841.
De Meulemeester, C., Lowyck B., Panagiotopoulou, E., Fotopoulou, A. & Luyten, P. (2020). Self–other distinction and borderline personality disorder features: Evidence for egocentric and altercentric bias in a self–other facial morphing task. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment, 12(4), 377–388.
Panagiotopoulou, E., Filippetti, M.L., Gentsch, A., Fotopoulou, A. (2018). Dissociable sources of erogeneity in social touch: Imagining and perceiving C-Tactile optimal touch in erogenous zones. PloS ONE, 13 (8): e0203039.
Panagiotopoulou, E., Filippetti, M.L., Tsakiris, M., & Fotopoulou, A. (2017) Affective Touch Enhances Self- Face Recognition During Multisensory Integration. Scientific Reports, 7: 12883.
Gentsch, A., Panagiotopoulou, E., & Fotopoulou, A. (2015). Active Interpersonal Touch Gives Rise to the Social Softness Illusion. Current Biology, 25(18), 2392-2397.