To understand the role of stress in human health and disease, researchers often use controlled experiments that intentionally induce short-term stress in the laboratory. By doing this, they can study how people respond to stress, as well as differences in how individuals handle stress. However, when it comes to stress research involving people with psychiatric or neurological disorders, there are no clear guidelines for conducting these experiments safely and effectively.

In this study, a group of 179 people, including researchers, study participants, individuals with lived experience of psychiatric or neurological conditions, healthcare professionals, and ethicists, worked together to develop a set of best practices. Through three rounds of questionnaires, they reached an agreement on recommendations covering every phase of the research process. These include designing the study, recruiting participants, ensuring participants are properly informed, carrying out the stress induction, and providing aftercare. Our findings highlight the importance of carefully balancing effective stress induction with acceptable intensity in studies using stress induction paradigms in clinical populations. These guidelines provide a practical framework to support the design of future laboratory stress studies, with the aim of supporting both participant well-being and scientific validity.

This paper offers recommendations for stress research involving people with psychiatric or neurological disorders, covering every stage of the research process. These guidelines provide a practical framework to support the design of future laboratory stress studies, with the aim of supporting both participant well-being and scientific validity and comparability.

This figure provides a summary of all recommendations for laboratory stress research in people with psychiatric or neurological disorders, sorted by study phase.