Researcher Miquel Domènech receives a grant from La Marató for a mental health project

How daily situations are perceived by patients with depression

Miquel Domènech, researcher at the Department of Social Psychology, participates in the project "Noves dianes terapèutiques en la depressió: el paper de la percepció situacional" [New therapeutic targets for depression: the role of situational perceptions], coordinated by researcher David Gallardo from the University of Barcelona, and which also includes the participation of Marta Subirà from the Parc Taulí Foundation.

"Depression is a disorder that more and more people are concerned about. Pharmacological and psychological treatments do not always work. Among other factors, this is due to the fact that depression is a heterogeneous and complex disorder: not all patients are the same, and we still do not know what works for each person. Plus, we do not fully know how depressive thoughts and negative emotions appear in daily life situations. In this project, we will be looking at some of these crucial questions by investigating the situational perception of patients, i.e., how they experience and see daily situations", says Miquel Domènech.  

By using virtual reality and questionnaires, the researchers will assess how patients with depression consider different situations in the laboratory and in real life: what situations do they perceive as demanding or challenging? Which ones do they see as being adverse, or pleasant? Which make patients be suspicious and become alert? The research team will invite community patients to the research group with open sessions which will collect their opinions on the objectives and methods of the project. At the end of the research, all patients will be informed of the results of the study.