Do you want to be successful at stopping smoking? If so, the main thing is that you should see yourself as a non-smoker. Psychologist Eline Meijer has discovered that smokers who are unable to do this are more likely to resume smoking. This is more common among smokers from a lower socio-economic background.…

As a psychologist and pilot, Bert Busscher is interested in the phenomenon often termed as fear of flying. Busscher discovered that the heart rate of a person undergoing a therapeutic flight shows how much they still suffer from fear of flying. The post-flight heart rate can even predict whether the…

Many of our staff and students have won prizes over the past year. Others have been awarded a subsidy, or, because of their eminence in their field, they have been appointed member of an academic society or have taken on a position in the community. Reasons enough to be proud of them and to include…

Receiving positive support and seeing yourself as being a quitter may help smokers quit, say Eline Meijer and colleagues. The health psychologists published their study in Social Science & Medicine.

To relieve a patient's pain, it can be effective to induce expectations. This finding is promising for optimising the effectiveness of treatments, conclude Kaya Peerdeman and colleagues in their article in PAIN.

If you imagine in advance that something is not going to hurt, this could mean you experience less pain. This discovery was made by health psychologist Kaya Peerdeman during her PhD research on the placebo effect. PhD defence 7 February.

Debate

A new health programme will reward patients with - or at risk of developing - cardio-vascular diseases for keeping to a healthy lifestyle. A research group including psychologist Andrea Evers has been awarded 2.5 million euros by the Dutch Heart Foundation and the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare…

Medicines can work even if they have no active ingredient. The first international scientific conference on placebos will take place in Leiden from 2 to 4 April. Placebo researcher Andrea Evers, who is also chairing the conference, answers some pressing questions.

Laura Nijkamp’s biggest dream came true recently: she took a parabolic flight and was weightless for a moment. The BrainFly student team, which includes psychology students from Leiden, needed volunteers. She signed up immediately. She tells us all about her experience.