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Stress-Related Health Problems
"Prevention" means to "keep something from happening" and, in the health context, to keep medical
symptoms from developing. No more than 10-15% of the general population show insufficient coping
skills under chronic stress and may be at risk for stress-related health problems. Therefore,
prevention has to target only a subgroup of the general public whose risk is significantly higher
than the average. Our prevention strategy aims (1) to raise awareness of the risks associated
with chronic stress; (2) to promote constructive lifestyles so that vulnerability to stress-related
health problems is reduced while mechanisms that support health are strengthened; (3) to promote
regular exercises which significantly reduce the risk for stress-related health problems.
Affective State
Monitoring affective state is of major interest for everyone. Assessments provide fascinating
insights into the dynamics of general health: (1) the complex interplay between vulnerability and
resilience factors; (2) the extent to which the affective state influences physical health and
well-being; (3) the extent to which physical activity contributes to general health by improving
physical fitness and by strengthening the immune system.
«Depressive-Voice» App
Daily 2-minute speech recordings are used to assess the test persons' affective state over
time. Specifically, the «Depressive-Voice» App computes the variations around
individual baselines in positive as well as negative direction. It is worth noting, however,
that short-term deviations from "normal" values over 1-2 days are constituents
of human life and do not require major attention.
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Socio-Culturally Independent Factors
A normative study of 3,178 freshman students from 7 different countries revealed
socio-culturally independent risk factors for insufficient coping behavior under
chronic stress. Monitoring affective state among subjects under risk yields directly
interpretable results in the sense of "biofeedback" and enables the early detection
of stress-related health problems.
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Relevance of depression prevention: Detailed analysis of 2,673 patients under
antidepressants revealed modest response rates to treatment: (1) a considerable number of
patients (20.8%) did not show any sign of improvement throughout the entire treatment
period but exhibited a refractory clinical picture which was resistant to all treatments;
(2) another significant proportion (25.3%) showed incomplete improvement; (3) no more
than 53.9% of patients responded satisfactorily to treatment.
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