Beliefs and Messages Lab (BAM)
Our team studies how people think and talk about emotions and mental health.
Explore the Beliefs & Messages Lab
What do people think about the causes and treatments for depression and anxiety? Is depression due to a chemical imbalance? Or is it a reflection of societal pressures? Is it something else?
In the Beliefs and Messages (BAM) Lab, we examine the psychological and motivational impacts of different frameworks of understanding mental health. We draw from various fields (psychology, sociology, philosophy) and correlational and experimental designs to understand how talking about mental health in different ways can impact people. Our ultimate goal with this research is to optimize messages about depression and anxiety that reduce stigmatizing attitudes while also increasing hope for recovery.
Contact
4250 Plymouth Rd.,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Dr. Hans Schroder, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Medical School
In the Schroder Lab
At the Beliefs and Messages Lab, we study how different ways of understanding mental health affect people's expectations, motivation, and psychological functioning. Our research examines the consequences of popular mental health narratives and explores new ways of framing distress to promote adaptive coping.
For example, in a recent randomized control trial, we compared the effects of framing depression as a disease like cancer or diabetes versus as a “signal” that serves an adaptive function. Our results demonstrated that these frameworks led to different outcomes in self-stigma, perceived efficacy for recovery, and attitudes about depression -- underscoring the clinical relevance of mental health messaging.
