Inducing stress, experiencing stress: Reflections and recommendations for the Trier Social Stress Test

AI Summary

The TSST remains a robust, widely used paradigm for inducing psychosocial stress since 1993.
The TSST imposes substantial burden on participants and on researchers as panel members, prompting questions about panel members' physiological stress responses.
Researchers reported implementation challenges, practical recommendations, and amusing anecdotes to inform future stress induction study design.

Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2026 Jul 16;27:100368. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2026.100368. eCollection 2026 Aug.

ABSTRACT

Developed by Clemens Kirschbaum and colleagues in 1993, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) remains one of the most powerful and widely used experimental paradigms for inducing psychosocial stress. In this article, written in honour of Clemens Kirschbaum, we compiled anecdotal reports on researchers’ experiences with the TSST. Fourty-six TSST researchers responded to our request, sharing insights into participant and panel member reactions, challenges in study implementation, and recommendations for the design of future stress induction studies. In sum, these accounts highlight that the TSST places a substantial burden not only on participants, but also, in a different way, on researchers serving as panel members. This observation raises intriguing questions for future research, such as whether imposing stress on others elicits a physiological stress response. Finally, for the readers’ amusement, the article recounts humorous anecdotes involving unusual participant performances and unexpected mishaps during experimental procedures.

PMID:42502730 | PMC:PMC13401023 | DOI:10.1016/j.cpnec.2026.100368

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