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Pain is a highly subjective experience and not necessarily related linearily to a nociceptive input. It is influenced by pathological and genetic factors, and is further subject to a complex set of individual, contextual, and environmental variables. Emotional states are thereby associated with an intricate interplay of coordinated neurotransmitter systems that lead to endogenous pain modulation. Mu-opioidergic neurotransmission in emotional pain modulation is one of the key aspects of this thesis. The findings clearly demonstrate that pain is a dynamic experience, by which noxious stimuli are permanently modulated and re-evaluated within a broader context of the individual and its interaction with the environment. The acknowledgment of the organism as a unity, where mental phenomena cannot be separated from their physical consequences, shapes our understanding of ´bodily´ and ´emotional´ homeostasis. It should therefore be of great value for both the pharmacological care of pain patients and the individual and clinical management of other life´s challenges.

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Born 1979, she studied Pharmaceutical Sciences and received a PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (2009). Her research on emotional pain modulation was carried out at the Collegium Helveticum, a transdisciplinary research institute of the University and ETH Zurich, where she is currently member of the management board.

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