news 2023

Coercive measures are used in psychiatric treatment to avert acute danger to a person's life and health. However, such measures can be associated with considerable risks for patients and treatment teams. It is known from studies in adult psychiatric inpatient wards that environmental factors such as staffing, availability of retreat options, privacy and access to natural light can influence the use of coercive measures.

Distorted reality, altered sensory perceptions and thought processes as well as concentration disorders over a longer period of time can be signs of an increased risk of psychosis.

In the case of boredom, we think of many situations in life but intuitively not of exams. However, an international team of academics led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now studied exactly this phenomenon of test boredom for the first time and found remarkable results. According to the study, school students are actually very bored during exams.

Man-made works of art, however, are viewed more positively. Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are also becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to generate aesthetic content. A team of scientists at the University of Vienna has now been able to show through experiments that, contrary to common assumptions, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art even if they know that the work was generated by a computer.

People suffering from obesity are at a significantly greater risk of also developing mental disorders. This applies to all age groups, whereby women are more at risk than men for most diseases, as a recent study by the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows. The results were published in the specialist journal "Translational Psychiatry".

The objective measurement of the ways in which people move in front of art shows that there are four different groups that also report different art experiences. A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art.