We talk to Justin, who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder type 1 over 14 years ago. Justin is very candid and talks about his first manic episode at the age of 28, and how he learned to live a stable life. Justin is doing well, and he owes this in particular to his own perseverance. What do you experience…

Stressful events and a lack of support from the environment are both consequences and causes of mood swings in people with a bipolar disorder. This is the finding of PhD research by Leiden clinical psychologist Manja Koenders. PhD defence 7 April.

Introduces a novel trope of photographic images dealing with states of mental disorders; focuses on photographs that visualize disturbed corporeal and mental perceptions of the world and connects medium-specific characteristics of photography to concepts from mental disorder studies.

Social anxiety runs in families, but the neurobiology underlying this genetic vulnerability is until now largely unknown. The unique Leiden Family Lab study on Social Anxiety Disorder (LFLSAD) aims to broaden our knowledge with respect to this genetic susceptibility.

-

Although exposure therapy is the gold-standard treatment of posttraumatic stress-disorder (PTSD), only half of the patients adequately benefit from it. Based on recent insights into the mechanisms of extinction, this project examines strategies and techniques to improve exposure treatment outcome in…

The precise psychobiological mechanisms leading to chronic physiological stress responses have not been sufficiently explained, although stress is a major risk factor for disease and early death. A problem for conventional stress theory is that most of these responses seem to occur in situations without…

How to come to valid risk stratification of alcohol use disorder?

One of the current research projects funded by the profile area Political Legitimacy is the research group From Disorder to Order: Conflict and the Resources of Legitimacy.

Our mission is to advance the understanding of mental health of individuals with a history of stress and/or trauma through rigorous interdisciplinary research, integrating insights from clinical psychology, neurobiology, and social sciences. We are committed to translating our findings into innovative…

The Leiden | Islam interview series contains short documentary-style videos including interview flashes with leading scholars in the field of Islam and Muslim societies. With this series, LUCIS aims to show the value of unconventional insights related to Islam and Muslim societies, and to relate them…

In this thesis we use Josephson and noise scanning tunneling microscopy for the study of conventional, unconventional (iron-based) and disordered superconductors. On the one hand, Josephson scanning tunneling microscopy allows us to directly visualize the superfluid density with high spatial resolut…

This thesis is devoted to an in-depth examination of the various effects of disorder in the cuprate high-temperature superconductors.

The key question addressed in this family study is whether the psychophysiological and neurocognitive abnormalities often reported in SAD patients are heritable and can thus be found in family members of SAD patients as well. Determination of heritability of these deficiencies is essential for endophenotyping.…

How does stress affect different components of behavioral impulsivity and aggression in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder compared to clinical controls (patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and healthy controls?

For the first time, astronomers have observed in three dimensions that gas from spiral galaxies is blown upwards and downwards at high speed, far out of the galaxy. They thereby confirm the theory of galaxy evolution: that star-forming galaxies create intergalactic gas flows by discharging gas along…

Why do children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulties with acquiring emotion regulation skills; and how is this related to their social impairments and comorbid psychopathology?

Does an Emotional Working Memory Training show a beneficial transfer effect on emotion regulation (reappraisal) capacities in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder?

How do dissociative states affect the ability to suppress emotional distraction (in the context of a working memory task) in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder?

Which criteria do ED patients and therapists evaluate as most relevant for recovery? Do patients and therapists differ in their evaluations? Do eating disorder patients differ from a healthy control group in their scores on the Recovery Scale?

What is the role of emotion regulation in coping with interpersonal feedback?

Neurodegenerative diseases pose a large medical and societal challenge. The etiology of these diseases is still poorly understood, which makes drug discovery for these diseases difficult.

Dissertation

It often takes a long time for people with an eating disorder to seek help and receive treatment. eHealth could be a solution, PhD candidate Pieter Rohrbach has discovered.

My ERC Starting Grant, funded with €1.5 million for 5 years as part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, is focused on building the early warning system WARN-D to reliably forecast depression in young adults before it occurs. Why depression, and why prediction?

For Humans of Psychology, students and staff will be put into the spotlight. At our institute prizes are won, exiting research is conducted, knowledge is harnessed, public meeting are organised and open science is highlighted. Take a look behind the scenes.

Primary Objective: The primary aim of the proposed RCT is to evaluate whether LF-TLP in blended form as an indicated prevention for anxiety complaints is more (cost-) effective than TAU according to the NHG guideline Anxiety. We hypothesize that in comparison to TAU, LF-TLP will result in a significantly…

Have you ever experienced the feeling of awkwardness when attending a party where you didn’t know anybody? Ever felt shy at a party within the first few minutes? While this feeling is labelled loosely as feeling socially anxious, social anxiety disorder goes to a much further extent.

Leiden biotech startup Azafaros has successfully completed a funding round, raising 25 million euros of investments for developing treatments of rare metabolic disorders. The company holds exclusive license to a library of novel patented compounds discovered by experts from Leiden University.

It was already known that social anxiety disorder often affects more than one person in the same family. But research by PhD student Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam has now shown that there are genetic brain characteristics that are associated with social anxiety. The PhD ceremony will take place on 14 Ja…

What is the impact of Ramadan on patients with a bipolar disorder? What does it mean to be sensitive to psychiatric patients' religious beliefs? Driss Moussaoui, a Moroccan psychiatrist, talks about this in a video interview with Leiden University's Islam Centre LUCIS.

Dissociation is a common symptom in borderline personality disorder and is associated with an increased risk of suicidality and self-harm. Dialectical behaviour therapist Anne Krause-Utz has written a book for clinicians, researchers and students who want to better understand and recognise the pheno…

PhD defence

‘Raising awareness of the disorder is crucial since borderline personality disorder (BPD) still faces considerable stigma ’, says Anne Krause-Utz (Clinical Psychology) . Together with an international team of excellent scientists, Krause-Utz provides an update of current knowledge about this disorder,…

-

-

As a professor, Natasha Appelman-Dijkstra understands better than anyone how important it is to recognise bone and mineral conditions at an early stage. She emphasises the importance of flexibility and collaboration for better care, groundbreaking research and strong education.

Investigating neurobiological endophenotypes of Social Anxiety Disorder

Our mission is to improve the description, prediction, understanding and the prevention and treatment of mood disorders, including unipolar and bipolar depression, as well as suicidal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. To tackle this ambitious mission, we focus on several research streams.