Tuesday May 18th 2021 | 20:00 – 21:30 | Zoom |
Today’s society is focussed on social distancing. Shaking hands is prohibited, people’s faces are hidden behind masks and human touch is reduced significantly. With terms like ‘huidhonger’ or ‘touch deprivation’ becoming more popular, the importance of touch is emphasized. Physical touch has an important role in our emotions. For example, a soothing hand on your shoulder when you’re stressed or a friend that gives you a pat on your back to let you know that they’re proud of you can really affect your mental health. What happens when this type of touch is not possible, because of a pandemic for example. Especially young people, among them a lot of students, report more feelings of loneliness and depression. This talk combines touch deprivation and mental health. We want to compare science to our personal experiences. How does touch affect our mental wellbeing? Do students recognize what science says about affection and touch?
During this talk we’ll discuss this with Sander Koole and Mirjam Hachem. Sander Koole (Ph.D. 2000, Radboud University Nijmegen) is Professor of Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Director of the Amsterdam Emotion Regulation Lab. Mirjam Hachem is a sex therapist and have a lot of scientific knowledge about the skin, touch, the nervous system, how touch is processed in the brain and what it does to you to receive too little touch.
This Talk will take place via Zoom, so make sure to sign up beforehand! You can sign up for the Zoom-link until May 18th 14:00: https://forms.gle/Pq3DERvtaw4ANDV99