Damiaan Denys is faculty professor of psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam. He has published more than 500 scientific articles; contributed to anxiety and compulsivity, pioneered the application of deep brain stimulation in psychiatric disorders and received the 2020 IgNobel Prize for his discovery of misophonia. Since 2024, he leads Lemon Tree, an interdisciplinary scientific center at the intersection of psychiatry, psychotherapy and philosophy at the IAS, institute of advanced study at the University of Amsterdam.
His book, “The Deficit of Excess,” (2021) offers a penetrating analysis of our sick relationship with healthy psychological suffering. His latest book, “Psychotherapy in Motion, the art of boxing psychotherapy” (2023) describes the advantage of using our bodies in psychotherapy.
In addition to science, Denys focuses on broad social issues of fear, control, happiness, normality and meaning. He wrote and acted in 2015 a theatrical monologue about anxiety with which he toured the Netherlands and Belgium. Denys is widely known for his honest questions and courageous positions in complex debates.