anxiety

Stress? It's safety, silly!

A new view of stress as a default response throws current theory upside down. Not something present (a stressor) triggers a stress response, but something missing (information on safety) unleashes it, keeping it disinhibited as long as safety is missing or unclear.

Jos Brosschot • 25-04-2022

Stress science is looking in the wrong place with the wrong theory

Stress responses, typically popularized as outdated reactions to stressors such as cave bears, are far too brief and infrequent to make us sick. Yet, science still focuses on these responses, failing to explain the chronic high stress levels that can influence health and cause disease.

Jos Brosschot • 14-04-2022

Why zebras don’t get ulcers, but cows do: the physiological effects of psychological stressors in calves

The stress response system is highly adaptive, and has kept humans, zebras, and calves alive through history. But today it leaves humans in distress, whereas zebras are fine. And calves suffer stress as humans do… but for a different reason: humans themselves.

Remond Wulff • 25-03-2022

Stress, anxiety and adapting to uncertainty in everyday life

Our world may seem unpredictable and uncertain, especially when others are involved. When interacting with others, we cannot know for sure what they may be thinking or planning to do, but we do a good job guessing. This may not be so easy for everyone…

Selin Topel • 21-03-2022

Collaborative international open science in times of COVID: the start of my Rubicon project

A year ago, I received great news: I’d been awarded a Rubicon grant! This grant enabled me to work with Prof. Daniel Pine, based at the National Institute of Mental Health (US). But how could I perform an innovative, international scientific project in a pandemic?

Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam • 11-10-2021

Pandemics: Survival of the ‘most anxious’?

When people in movies shake hands or crowd into elevators, do you think 'No! Keep back!'? I do. And it’s not just me. Apparently the Corona-induced fear of human contact is already wired in our brains. In this pandemic, will it be a case of survival of the most anxious?

Marieke Tollenaar • 09-11-2020

A blind spot in recognizing common mental health problems

Mental health problems are difficult to signal. Fortunately our awareness about many mental health problems has increased somewhat in recent years. But are we sensitive to anxiety disorders, the most common mental health disorder over the lifespan?

Semiha Aydin • 11-05-2020

Coping with negative emotions requires more than positive rephrasing

Describing a situation that elicits negative emotions in more positive terms may provide a new perspective and thus attenuate the negative feelings. However, it is not necessarily the feelings that change with positive rephrasing.

Esther van den Bos • 09-05-2020

The relationships between attachment, psychopathology and emotion processing

Growing up, kids get attached to their caregivers, who help regulate their emotions. But they may also experience trauma, e.g. sexual abuse, depression, or anxiety. Our central question was therefore “How do attachment, trauma, and emotion regulation correlate?

Marie-José van Hoof • 24-12-2019

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