dr. T.R. Vaessen (Thomas)

Assistant Professor
BMS-HIB-PGT
t.r.vaessen@utwente.nl
+31534896664
Business card

I am assistant professor in mental resilience at the University of Twente and postdoctoral research fellow at KU Leuven. I am interested in how people deal with stress in their daily lives, and what the consequences are for their resilience and the development of mental illness. Additionally, I develop mobile interventions aimed at learning to cope with daily stressors.

Expertise

  • Psychology

    • Negative Affect
    • Positive Affect
    • Stressors
    • Emotion Regulation
    • Resilience
    • Emotion-Regulation Strategy
    • Early Intervention
    • Methodology

Organisations

My research focuses on the role of stress and stress recovery in the development of psychopathology and early interventions focused on coping behavior in the context of stress. To this end I use experience sampling methodology, passive monitoring, and experimental lab tasks.

Publications

2024
Idiographic bidirectional associations of stressfulness of events and negative affect in daily life as indicators for mental health: An experience sampling study, Article e3433 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Kraiss, J. T., Vaessen, T. & Klooster, P. M. t.https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3433The Role of Childhood Trauma in Affective Stress Recovery in Early Psychosis: An Experience Sampling Study (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Ader, L., Schick, A., Vaessen, T., Morgan, C., Kempton, M. J., Valmaggia, L., McGuire, P., Myin-Germeys, I., Lafit, G. & Reininghaus, U.https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbae004Higher emotion regulation flexibility predicts more stable negative emotions and faster affective recovery in early psychosis: an experience sampling study (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Li, X., Vaessen, T., Lafit, G., Van Aubel, E., Hiekkaranta, A. P., Houben, M., Beijer-Klippel, A., De Haan, L., Schirmbeck, F., Reininghaus, U. & Myin-Germeys, I.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291724000151Neuroticism and Extraversion are modifiable by treatment in individuals at-risk for psychosis or with first-episode psychotic disorder, Article 112404. Boyette, L. L., Schirmbeck, F., Vermeulen, J. M., van der Ven, E., van Aubel, E., Vaessen, T., Beijer-Klippel, A., Batink, T., van Winkel, R., van der Gaag, M., de Haan, L., Reininghaus, U. & Myin-Germeys, I.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112404
2023
Emotion regulation in daily life in early psychosis: The role of contextual appraisals, 130-138. Li, X., Lafit, G., van Aubel, E., Vaessen, T., Hiekkaranta, A. P., Houben, M., Beijer-Klippel, A., de Haan, L., Schirmbeck, F., Reininghaus, U. & Myin-Germeys, I.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2023.09.023Is daily-life stress reactivity a measure of stress recovery? An investigation of laboratory and daily-life stress, 638-650. De Calheiros Velozo, J., Vaessen, T., Lafit, G., Claes, S. & Myin-Germeys, I.https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3213How Negative Affect Does and Does Not Lead to Binge Eating — The Importance of Craving and Negative Urgency in Bulimia Nervosa, 621-633. Leenaerts, N., Vaessen, T., Sunaert, S., Ceccarini, J. & Vrieze, E.https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000830Neural correlates of daily-life affective stress reactivity in early psychosis: A study combining functional MRI and experience sampling methodology, 93-101. Vaessen, T., Reininghaus, U., van Aubel, E., Beijer-Klippel, A., Steinhart, H., Myin-Germeys, I. & Waltz, J.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2023.03.038Delayed affective recovery to daily-life stressors signals a risk for depression, 499-506. De Calheiros Velozo, J., Lafit, G., Viechtbauer, W., van Amelsvoort, T., Schruers, K., Marcelis, M., Goossens, L., Simons, C. J. P., Delespaul, P., Claes, S., Myin-Germeys, I. & Vaessen, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.136
2022
Positive Affective Recovery in Daily Life as a Momentary Mechanism Across Subclinical and Clinical Stages of Mental Disorder: Experience Sampling Study, Article e37394. Ader, L., Schick, A., Simons, C., Delespaul, P., Myin-Germeys, I., Vaessen, T. & Reininghaus, U.https://doi.org/10.2196/37394

Other contributions

Kirtley, O., Lafit, G., Vaessen, T., Decoster, J., Derom, C., Gülöksüz, S., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2022). The relationship between daily positive future thinking and past-week suicidal ideation in youth: An experience sampling study. doi:10.31234/osf.io/dvnb8

Myin-Germeys, I., van Aubel, E., Vaessen, T., Steinhart, H., Klippel, A., Lafit, G., . . . Reininghaus, U. (2022). Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life in Early Psychosis: Results from the Multi-Center INTERACT Randomized Controlled Trial. PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOSOMATICS, 13 pages. doi:10.1159/000522274

Weermeijer, J., Lafit, G., Kiekens, G., Wampers, M., Eisele, G., Kasanova, Z., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2022). Applying multiverse analysis to experience sampling data: Investigating whether preprocessing choices affect robustness of conclusions. BEHAVIOR RESEARCH METHODS, 12 pages. doi:10.3758/s13428-021-01777-1

van Aubel, E., Vaessen, T., van Winkel, R., Lafit, G., Beijer-Klippel, A., Viechtbauer, W., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2022). Psychological flexibility and the moderating role of the therapeutic working alliance in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life (ACT-DL) in an early psychosis sample. doi:10.1101/2022.01.19.22269524

Schiweck, C., Gholamrezaei, A., Hellyn, M., Vaessen, T., Vrieze, E., & Claes, S. (2022). Exhausted Heart Rate Responses to Repeated Psychological Stress in Women With Major Depressive Disorder.. Front Psychiatry, 13, 869608. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.869608

Vaessen, T., Rintala, A., Otsabryk, N., Viechtbauer, W., Wampers, M., Claes, S., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2021). The association between self-reported stress and cardiovascular measures in daily life: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 16(11), 28 pages. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259557

Myin-Germeys, I., van Aubel, E., Vaessen, T., Steinhart, H., Klippel, A., Lafit, G., . . . Reininghaus, U. (2021). Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life (ACT-DL) in early psychosis: Results from the multi-center INTERACT randomized controlled trial. medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.05.28.21257986

Velozo, J. D. C., Vaessen, T., Pruessner, J., Van Diest, I., Claes, S., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2021). The repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST): Testing habituation, sensitization, and anticipation effects to repeated stress induction. PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, 128, 9 pages. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105217

Leenaerts, N., Vaessen, T., Ceccarini, J., & Vrieze, E. (2021). How COVID-19 lockdown measures could impact patients with bulimia nervosa: Exploratory results from an ongoing experience sampling method study. Eating Behaviors, 41, 1-6. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101505

Klippel, A., Schick, A., Myin-Germeys, I., Rauschenberg, C., Vaessen, T., & Reininghaus, U. (2021). Modelling the temporal interplay between stress and affective disturbances in pathways to psychosis: an experience sampling study. PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE, 10 pages. doi:10.1017/S0033291720004894

Sinnaeve, R., Vaessen, T., van Diest, I., Myin-Germeys, I., van den Bosch, L. M. C., Vrieze, E., . . . Claes, S. (2021). Investigating the stress-related fluctuations of level of personality functioning: A critical review and agenda for future research. CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY & PSYCHOTHERAPY, 28(5), 1181-1193. doi:10.1002/cpp.2566

Schneider, M., Vaessen, T., van Duin, E. D. A., Kasanova, Z., Viechtbauer, W., Reininghaus, U., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2020). Affective and psychotic reactivity to daily-life stress in adults with 22q11DS: a study using the experience sampling method. JOURNAL OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS, 12(1), 11 pages. doi:10.1186/s11689-020-09333-2

Schiweck, C., Claes, S., Van Oudenhove, L., Lafit, G., Vaessen, T., Op de Beeck, G., . . . Vrieze, E. (2020). Childhood trauma, suicide risk and inflammatory phenotypes of depression: Insights from monocyte gene expression. Translational Psychiatry, 10, 1-12. doi:10.1038/s41398-020-00979-z

van Aubel, E., Bakker, J. M., Batink, T., Michielse, S., Goossens, L., Lange, I., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2020). Blended care in the treatment of subthreshold symptoms of depression and psychosis in emerging adults: A randomised controlled trial of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily-Life (ACT-DL). BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY, 128, 16 pages. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2020.103592

Reininghaus, U., Klippel, A., Steinhart, H., Vaessen, T., van Nierop, M., Viechtbauer, W., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2019). Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life (ACT-DL) in early psychosis: study protocol for a multi-centre randomized controlled trial. TRIALS, 20(1), 12 pages. doi:10.1186/s13063-019-3912-4

van Duin, E. D. A., Vaessen, T., Kasanova, Z., Viechtbauer, W., Reininghaus, U., Saalbrink, P., . . . Germeys, I. (2019). Lower cortisol levels and attenuated cortisol reactivity to daily-life stressors in adults with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 106, 85-94. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.03.023

Vaessen, T., Viechtbauer, W., van der Steen, Y., Gayer-Anderson, C., Kempton, M., Valmaggia, L., . . . Germeys, I. (n.d.). Recovery from daily-life stressors in early and chronic psychosis. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, 1-8. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2019.03.011

Vaessen, T., Steinhart, H., Batink, T., Klippel, A., Van Nierop, M., Reininghaus, U., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2019). ACT in daily life in early psychosis: an ecological momentary intervention approach. PSYCHOSIS-PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIAL AND INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES, 11(2), 93-104. doi:10.1080/17522439.2019.1578401

Vaessen, T., Kasanova, Z., Hernaus, D., Lataster, J., Collip, D., van Nierop, M., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2018). Overall cortisol, diurnal slope, and stress reactivity in psychosis: An experience sampling approach. PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, 96, 61-68. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.06.007

Kasanova, Z., Ceccarini, J., Frank, M. J., van Amelsvoort, T., Booij, J., van Duin, E., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2017). Intact striatal dopaminergic modulation of reward learning and daily-life reward-oriented behavior in first-degree relatives of individuals with psychotic disorder. Psychological Medicine , 1-6.

Myin-Germeys, I., Kasanova, Z., Vaessen, T., Vachon, H., Kirtley, O., Viechtbauer, W., & Reininghaus, U. (2018). Experience sampling methodology in mental health research: new insights and technical developments. WORLD PSYCHIATRY, 17(2), 123-132. doi:10.1002/wps.20513

Hwang, B., You, J., Vaessen, T., Myin-Germeys, I., Park, C., & Zhang, B. -T. (2018). Deep ECGNet: An Optimal Deep Learning Framework for Monitoring Mental Stress Using Ultra Short-Term ECG Signals. Telemedicine and E-health. doi:10.1089/tmj.2017.0250

Vaessen, T., van Nierop, M., Delespaul, P., Derom, C., De Hert, M., Jacobs, N., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2017). Is sensitivity to daily stress predictive of onset or persistence of psychopathology?. European Psychiatry , 45, 167-173. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.07.002

Batink, T., Bakker, J., Vaessen, T., Kasanova, Z., Collip, D., van Os, J., . . . Peeters, F. (2016). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life Training: A Feasibility Study of an mHealth Intervention. Journal of Medical Internet Research , 4(3).

Kasanova, Z., Hernaus, D., Vaessen, T., van Amelsvoort, T., Winz, O., Heinzel, A., . . . Myin-Germeys, I. (2016). Early-Life Stress Affects Stress-Related Prefrontal Dopamine Activity in Healthy Adults, but Not in Individuals with Psychotic Disorder. PLoS One , 11(3).

Vaessen, T., Hernaus, D., Myin-Germeys, I., & van Amelsvoort, T. (2015). The dopaminergic response to acute stress in health and psychopathology: A systematic review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews , 56, 241-51.

Research profiles

Current projects

CORE

Coping and stress Recovery in daily life

Individuals in early stages of mental illness need more time to recover from daily life stressors, resulting in persistent negative feelings. Maladaptive coping behaviors may underlie this delayed recovery. If we would be able to predict the moments in daily life where the recovery process malfunctions, we could offer treatment (i.e. alternative coping behaviors) in the very moment it is needed. In the CORE study, we investigate how we can predict the moments during the day where stress recovery hampers in individuals in the early stages of mental illness. To do this, we use a combination of high-tech wearable devices that continuously measure bodily responses (i.e. heart rate, sweat, and skin temperature) and a diary method assessing momentary feelings, both in a controlled setting (a lab) and one week in daily life. Specifically, we investigate how the emotional recovery process is associated with the bodily response if we can use the responses from the lab and the bodily response in daily life, to develop a statistical model that can detect moments of stress in daily life, and predict how long the affective recovery will take if the momentary coping behavior is related to stress recovery.

Finished projects

SMILE

Study on mental effort in the lab and in daily life

Stress is believed to play a crucial role in the development of a large variety of mental and physical disorders in vulnerable individuals, which is reflected in an individual’s reactivity to acute stress. However, prospective studies on the effects of stress-reactivity, as well as those on the effects of treatment on stress-reactivity, struggle with the challenges of repeated stress induction using the same experimental task. In the SMILE project, we used a standardized stress task to induce psychosocial stress twice in the same individuals. With this project, we aim to assess the reliability and ecological validity of the task in its capacity to trigger a stress response twice within a week and ascertain that it has no aversive long-lasting effects.

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