The KU Leuven research unit Health Psychology aims at unravelling how psychological and somatic variables interact in health and disease from a bio-behavioral perspective. Both fundamental and applied research is being conducted to understand how interoceptive sensations are psychologically processed and how cognitive, emotional, learning, and neural processes contribute to the initiation and maintenance of chronic somatic symptoms, illness and disability. Key words in our group are pain, dyspnea, psychophysiology, associative learning, interoception and symptom perception. The prevailing research paradigm is the controlled experiment. Measurements include self-reports, psychophysiological responses, and behavioural data.

 

Collaborative, interdisciplinary research is performed by a network of experienced researchers, clinicians and students who are fascinated by the behavioural science of health and disease. The ultimate goal is to apply the gathered knowledge in the assessment and early identification of those people at risk, and in the development of customized cognitive-behavioural interventions in the pursuit of prevention and treatment of chronic somatic complaints. The group has acquired 250 sq meter lab space, with labs that are well-equipped for the majority of the planned studies (Coulbourn modules for psychophysiological measurement, 128-channel EGI EEG systems, Digitimer DS 5 and DS7, Medoc Pathway, Cold Pressor task, Haptic Master 3-D robot arm).

There is a productive network of collaborative research within and outside Europe. The group has strong connections with the University Hospital Leuven, as well as the Centre for Translational Psychological Research of Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg (TRACE). These are particularly valuable for input from our clinical partners and the translation and dissemination of our project to clinical practice.

Recently, the group has been granted the prestigious Methusalem grant, which is the highest level of research financing offered in Flanders. The FWO Methusalem-program is intended to structurally finance Flemish top researchers, which enables them to build a long-term research strategy and work on their research.

The Methusalem program ASTHENES aims at unraveling the bio-behavioral mechanisms underlying the transition from acute aversive sensations to chronic bodily symptoms