Ziv Ben-Zion, PhD

Psychedelics and collective trauma: multisystemic resilience and recovery pathways among Nova festival survivors – a qualitative study Objective: On 7 October 2023, a mass-casualty attack at the Nova festival in Israel created an unprecedented convergence of collective trauma and altered states of consciousness. Many survivors wer...

📢 Our new study on psychedelics, trauma & resilience among Nova survivors is out in EJPT: doi.org/10.1080/2000...

We found that healing was shaped by friendship, community, shared rituals & compassionate spaces.

Because after collective trauma, connection becomes medicine 💛

1,000 citations! 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Next stop: understanding the brain 🧠😉🎉

'Tron: Ares' And What Happens When AI Gets The Feels What does AI do with human feelings? To investigate its readiness to serve as a therapist, a neuroscientist took ChatGPT for an emotional ride.

🎙️ Excited to share my recent interview on Science Friday, airing on 500+ @npr.org stations and reaching 1.8M weekly listeners. I spoke with Emma Gometz about emotional AI and what happens when chatbots start to “feel.”
👉 www.sciencefriday.com/articles/tro...
#AI #LLM #Ethics #MentalHealth #Science

Finally we can breathe again... Welcome Home! 🙏❤️🎗

🚨 New preprint!
Can AI agents show emotional bias like humans under stress?
🔗 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

🤖 After exposure to traumatic text, LLMs-as-agents made less-healthy food choices, mirroring stress-driven human behavior

@haifaresearch.bsky.social @researchsqualler.bsky.social

ד"ר זיו בן ציון מאוניברסיטת חיפה בפודקאסט N12: הבינה המלאכותית יכולה לעודד מצוקה נפשית - אוניברסיטת חיפה ד"ר זיו בן ציון מאוניברסיטת חיפה בפודקאסט N12: הבינה המלאכותית יכולה לעודד מצוקה נפשית - אוניברסיטת חיפה מזמינה אתכם להתעדכן בכל החדשות והאירועים המתרחשים בקמפוס ובקהילה האקדמי

www.haifa.ac.il/2025/09/04/%...

@haifaresearch.bsky.social @wutsaiyale.bsky.social @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social @kavliatyale.bsky.social @yaleneuro.bsky.social
@timesofisrael.com

Exciting news! 🎉
I’ve been awarded the ISF Beresheet Grant (~₪7M) to launch the Resilience & Recovery Lab at Haifa University. 🧠
Our STRONG project will examine how people & communities recover from trauma - through surveys, behavioral & fMRI studies - to uncover resilience & guide interventions. 💪

Sounds good!

@nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com @springernature.com @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social @haifaresearch.bsky.social @wutsaiyale.bsky.social @yaleneuro.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social @kavliatyale.bsky.social

Why we need mandatory safeguards for emotionally responsive AI Virtual chatbots that simulate conversations with famous actors or sci-fi characters can have real-world consequences.

"Emotional influence isn’t a glitch.
It’s a core feature of large language models (LLMs).
If we celebrate their ability to comfort or advise, we must also confront their capacity to mislead or manipulate." 🤖😇😈

🔗Read here: nature.com/articles/d41...
📰Full PDF: rdcu.be/eugi1
Thank you @nature.com 🙏

Congrats! 👏

Thanks for sharing!

🙏

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing!

Why we need mandatory safeguards for emotionally responsive AI Virtual chatbots that simulate conversations with famous actors or sci-fi characters can have real-world consequences.

Virtual chatbots that simulate conversations with famous actors or sci-fi characters can have real-world consequences, says Ziv Ben-Zion

https://go.nature.com/44nUTQo

Thank you @nature.com 🙏👌🤩

@yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social
@haifaresearch.bsky.social
@wutsaiyale.bsky.social
@kavliatyale.bsky.social
@yaleneuro.bsky.social
@yalebooks.bsky.social
@natureportfolio.nature.com
@springernature.com

🌟 Exciting news! 🌟
📰 My piece on safeguards for emotionally responsive AI has been accepted in @nature.com! 🥳
I’m deeply honored to contribute to one of the world’s most respected scientific journals. 🙏
It goes live on July 1st, stay tuned! 🗓️
#Nature #AI#LLMs #Ethics #MentalHealth #WorldView

Honored to bring home the 2025 Society of Biological Psychiatry #SOBP Travel Award! 🥳✈️🧠
Toronto’s meeting was a blast. Huge thanks to the SOBP committee, my mentors & collaborators for making this possible. 🙏
@yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social @haifaresearch.bsky.social @wutsaiyale.bsky.social

#SOBP2025
Come see my poster (#17) today at 5:30pm!
I am excited to share our latest findings on assessing and alleviating anxiety in large language models 🧠🤖
Stop and say hi 👋

Off to the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) Annual Meeting 2025! ✈️🇨🇦🧠

How to predict PTSD severity by brain connectivity patterns: University of Haifa researcher Symptoms include flashbacks, hyperarousal, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, and changes in emotional and cognitive responses.

How to predict PTSD severity by brain connectivity patterns (📰Jerusalem Post, Apr 14, 2025)
🔗 www.jpost.com/health-and-w...

For the full paper, published in JAMA Network Open:
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
@wutsaiyale.bsky.social
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@kavliatyale.bsky.social
@yaleneuro.bsky.social
@yalebooks.bsky.social
@jama.com
@haifaresearch.bsky.social

Special thanks to my co-authors @ayejaysimon.bsky.social, Matthew Rosenblatt, Nachshon Korem, @orduek.bsky.social, Israel Liberzon, Arieh Shalev, Talma Hendler, @ifatlevy.bsky.social, @harpaz-rotem.bsky.social & @dscheinost.bsky.social 🙏

PTSD can be predicted with a brain scan a month after traumatic event, Israeli study finds ***

Our work featured in @haaretzcom.bsky.social 📰🧠💥
www.haaretz.com/science-and-...

For the full paper, published in JAMA Network Open: t.co/So6FemLMV3

@wutsaiyale.bsky.social
@yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social
@kavliatyale.bsky.social
@yaleneuro.bsky.social
@yalebooks.bsky.social
@jama.com
@haifaresearch.bsky.social

מחקר: ניתן לנבא פוסט טראומה עתידית תוך חודש מהאירוע הטראומטי הארץ

Excited to share a new piece about our research in @haaretzcom.bsky.social !🧠📰

Grateful to my co-authors: @ayejaysimon.bsky.social, @orduek.bsky.social, @ifatlevy.bsky.social, @harpaz-rotem.bsky.social & @dscheinost.bsky.social 🙏

🔗 Read here: www.haaretz.co.il/health/2025-...

Yes it provoked anxiety both in Chatbots and in humans 🙃