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.Ppioneered 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 institute of advanced study (IAS) 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 wasw launched in 2023 “Psychotherapy in Motion, the art of boxing psychotherapy”. In this book he describes the advantage of using our bodies in psychotherapy.

In addition to science, Damiaan 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.