‘Tis the season

Christmas and New Year are here again. In terms of happiness, often a joyful time of the year. However, for some, not so much. Fortunately psychology can give insight into what may improve your mood during this period. Besides, I offer some suggestions for research papers that should make your work or study break more fun. Happy holidays!

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Blue Monday: Perpetuating a media hype or promoting mental health awareness?

One Monday in mid-to-late January is said to be the most depressing day of the year. For the past 12 years, a Welsh psychologist has been associated with this day. He has become known as the brain behind Blue Monday, allegedly developing the formula used to calculate the date. But what is the real story, and how has it developed over time?

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Social behaviour and serotonin:

Some unexpected findings

While an acute decrease in brain serotonin may have few effects on social behaviour, a longer-term increase in serotonin in individuals at risk for depression improves mood and alters social behaviour. This Thursday, February 4, 2016, Koen Hogenelst defends his dissertation, in which he explains the relevance of his research findings for the effectiveness of serotonergic medications for depression.

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Does attentional bias modification constitute a suitable treatment for depression?

Negative attentional biases have been linked to depression. The “find the smiling face task” has been shown to reduce these dysfunctional attentional biases. To further validate the task, Thole Hoppen and two fellow students investigated whether the “find the smiling face task” changes attentional biases when people are in sad mood.

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