Max Leidenberger has recently joined us as a PhD student! As a phychotherapist and Breathwork facilitator, Max’ research interests revolve around understanding psychological and physiological outcomes of this therapeutic practice. In his PhD he is investigating the effects of a Breathwork intervention on participants with childhood trauma. Max’ breathwork study is funded by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. We wish Max all the best for his doctoral studies ..read more

What mental health topics are important to you? Help us select the most relevant research topics! From February 22nd to March 14th, 2024, a nationwide three-week online dialogue will take place at https://kommit-deutschland.de/. All people aged 16 and over who have had personal experience with mental health problems or who are close to someone affected are invited to contribute their topics ..read more

Josh Hindmarsh has recently joined us as a PhD student! His research revolves around states of approach-avoidance conflict (i.e., competing motivations towards reward and away from harm). He looks forward to adapting an existing behavioural paradigm to explore these conflict states through a social lens while incorporating biological measures. Josh is pursuing his studies through the Max Planck School of Cognition, a doctoral program dedicated to advancing the understanding of cognitive processes through interdisciplinary and innovative approaches. We wish Josh all the best for his doctoral ..read more

Maria Badanova has recently joined us as a PhD student! Her research focuses on the altered states of consciousness (ASC) practices such as breathwork and mindfulness. She is particularly interested in identifying the therapeutic benefits as well as potential risks of ASC interventions, and in exploring the interplay of the challenging and the helpful. Maria conducts her studies within the Max Planck School of Cognition, a doctoral program dedicated to advancing the understanding of cognitive processes through interdisciplinary and innovative approaches. We wish her all the best for her doct ..read more

The TV program “Terra Xplore” explores the question What is empathy and can it be learnt?. Among other protagonists, the show follows Isabel Dziobek, who shares her experience in the field of empathy research and presents some amazing work from the Lab like the Zirkus Empathico or the EVA/SCOTT training. The documentary will be broadcast on September 03, 2023 at 18:00 on ZDF (in German) and can already be watched in the ZDF Mediathek. Link to the full size video (in German ..read more

Smart and Well: encouraging conversations about mental health in academiaIt is no secret that universities are high-pressure environments, where students are under constant stress to achieve top grades, secure internships and keep up with coursework. This pressure is only amplified when you are looking to move into academia and pursue a career in research. The demands of academia can be immense: from stressful deadlines, the expectation to constantly achieve in order to maintain the place in the field, and the need to keep up with an ever-changing environment. With contracts often lasting only ..read more

Article in “Psychology Today”: The Surprising Benefit of Helping Someone in Distress Have you ever watched a horror-movie alone? Surely most people would rather watch such a movie with their partner or a good friend. Of course, it’s reassuring to have a companion, who can calm you down in stressful situations. But the effect might also work the other way around: Comforting another person can help reducing your own distress. In an exciting fMRI experiment, Simón Guendelmann investigated the benefits of regulating a partner’s emotions and how regulating others’ emotions differs from regulating o ..read more

On 09.09.2022, the new outpatient clinic for psychotherapy and psychodiagnostics, headed by Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek, at the Humboldt University of Berlin was officially opened. From now on it is located at Justus-von-Liebig-Str. 7, 12489 Berlin. Prior to the tour of the new outpatient clinic premises, a scientific symposium was held at the Erwin Schrödinger Zentrum. An overview of the topics presented can be found in the attached PDF (only available in german). Eröffung HSA HU BerlinDownload The university outpatient clinic of the Institute of Psychology of the HU Berlin offers psychotherapeu ..read more

You can find the original article here (open access). Is it difficult to read emotions? It can be. Is it always equally difficult? No. Why? That was our question in our study. Background For some people reading people’s emotional expressions is easier that for others, and that varies in different situations. But why? Is it about the observer? The person showing the expression? The emotion itself? Or, maybe it’s an interplay of all those? We asked these questions by investigating how the following influence difficulty of emotion perception: observer’s age and (s ..read more

Our team developed a guideline to destigmatising and inclusive use of language in autism research. The Guideline for Language Use in Autism Research were developed following the recommendations of Bottema-Beutel et al. (2021), the publication guidelines for terminology of the scientific journals Autism and Autism in Adulthood and the discussion in the Autismus-Forschungs-Kooperation (AFK). The guideline contains recommendations for the use of diagnostic terms and the designation of subgroups and comparison groups in clinical trials. Medicalised and value-laden terms should be avoided and repl ..read more