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Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the clinical application of classic psychedelics in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. Researchers of the University of Zurich have now shown that mindfulness meditation can enhance the positive long-term effects of a single dose of psilocybin, which is found in certain mushrooms.

A new app allows parents to playfully support their children as they explore their surroundings. They can record important motor, cognitive and linguistic milestones and receive scientifically sound information on each step. The app was developed by psychologists at the University of Zurich, who are researching the individual development of children.

On behalf of social security institutions, psychiatrists assess to what extent people with mental health problems are still able to work. However, the work capability assessments tend to be far too dissimilar. A new training course has helped to reduce the differences. This confirms a study conducted by researchers in Basel.

Teenage girls with problematic social behavior display reduced brain activity and weaker connectivity between the brain regions implicated in emotion regulation. The findings of an international study carried out by researchers from the University of Zurich and others now offer a neurobiological explanation for the difficulties some girls have in controlling their emotions, and provide indications for possible therapy approaches.

Traumatized children and children who develop multiple allergies tend to suffer in adulthood from chronic inflammatory diseases and psychiatric disorders. Researchers at the Universities of Zurich and Lausanne have demonstrated this in a study in which they identified five classes of early immune-system programming.

It is no secret that a bad mood can negatively affect how we treat others. But can it also make us more distrustful? Yes, according to a new study, which shows that negative emotions reduce how much we trust others, even if these emotions were triggered by events that have nothing to do with the decision to trust.

Using notes made by the attending healthcare professionals about psychiatric patients enables impending coercive measures to be predicted in advance - potentially even through automated text analysis. This was reported by researchers from the University of Basel and the Psychiatric University Clinics Basel in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Those who set realistic goals can hope for a higher level of well-being. The key for later satisfaction is whether the life goals are seen as attainable and what they mean to the person, as psychologists from the University of Basel report in a study with over 970 participants. Wealth, community, health, meaningful work: life goals express a person's character, as they determine behavior and the compass by which people are guided.

Researchers have developed an emotional intelligence test for the workplace that can be used to assess and predict an employee's abilities in interpersonal relations and leadership capabilities.

Nearly 10% of elementary school students have trouble learning to write, with potentially lasting consequences on their education. EPFL researchers have developed a software program that can analyze these children's writing disabilities and their causes with unparalleled precision. Trouble learning how to write, called dysgraphia, affects some 10% of schoolchildren.

How dangerous does the general public consider mentally ill people to be? Scientists at the University of Basel and the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel have investigated the factors that influence social stigma.

Does sleep help process stress and trauma? Or does it actually intensify emotional reactions and memories of the event? This previously unanswered question is highly relevant for the prevention of trauma-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How extremely distressing experiences are processed right at the outset can influence the further course and development of posttraumatic stress disorders.

In Nymphenburg on Friday, the ETH probabilist Wendelin Werner was awarded the Heinz Gumin Prize, the highest-value mathematics prize in Germany.

This year's Swiss Human Relations Barometer focuses on the main discussion topic of "loyalty and cynicism" and cynicism, - a negative, even derisive, attitude that employees develop toward their employers.

Brief, directed smartphone exercises can help quickly improve our mood. This is the latest finding from psychologists at the University of Basel and their international colleagues, reported in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Participants in the international study felt more alert, calmer and uplifted after - using five-minute video tutorials on their smartphones as a guide - they had, for example, practiced concentrating on their bodies.

12. EPFL scientists propose a new way of understanding of how the brain processes unconscious information into our consciousness. According to the model, consciousness arises only in time intervals of up to 400 milliseconds, with gaps of unconsciousness in between. The driver ahead suddenly stops, and you find yourself stomping on your breaks before you even realize what is going on.

Many people get on with their lives after traumatic experiences without any psychological suffering. This is because, in spite of all the trauma, they manage to pigeonhole what they have experienced. Although this sense of coherence was first described in the 1970s, measuring it has remained problematic to this day.

Media releases, information for representatives of the media Media Relations (E) We do not always say what we think: we like to hide certain prejudices, sometimes even from ourselves. But unconscious prejudices become visible with tests, because we need a longer time if we must associate unpleasant things with positive terms.

Is having a Plan B always a good idea? Or can these "safety nets" actually make you less likely to achieve your goals? Psychologists from the University of Zurich propose a new theoretical framework for studying the effects of backup plans. According to their model, the more effort people put into making backup plans, the more distracting and harmful those backup plans can become.

In promoting mental health, combined mental and physical training is more effective than physical training alone, as ETH human movement scientists have shown in a study of people over 70. Age-related health impairments affect not just the body but also the mind. Scientists refer to its mental symptoms as "mild cognitive impairment" (MCI): sufferers misplace things, can't recall the name of the neighbour they've just been talking to, or become generally less responsive.