War in Europe

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Recommendation for dealing with people in crisis situations and following difficult life events

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The Pompidou Group, together with leading European psycho-trauma experts, has developed recommendations on how people can better interact and communicate with persons who have experienced a crisis or difficult life event. The recommendations were developed at the request of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior and in light of the traumatic situations experienced by the Ukrainian population due to the ongoing Russian hostilities in Ukraine.

Being the continent’s leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe regards the protection of civilians of utmost importance. Traumatic experiences can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Epidemiological studies show that people with trauma and PTSD are more likely to have problems with alcohol and/or drug use. All Pompidou Group partners and supporters are encouraged to disseminate these important guidelines to anyone who is helping people who experienced traumatic situations, especially government and civil society workers, volunteers actively helping Ukrainian people for example in conflict areas, at the borders and in emergency facilities.

The recommendations are now available in 10 languages, which can be downloaded via the link below:

https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou/-/psychological-first-aid-for-ukrainian-people

Webinar on Covid-19 and global psychiatry on 10/29/21

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On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 to be a worldwide pandemic.

The global pandemic caused by SARS-COV-2 has had a notable impact across the globe. The incidence of COVID-19 and death rates has been substantially higher among ethnic minorities, migrants, and economically exposed groups.

In addition, persons with psychiatric disorders are at increased risk for virus transmission and death. One of the main public health strategies adopted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic consisted of implementing strict lockdowns to stop the transmission of the virus. Despite being an effective measure, the confinement and the associated social isolation create a stressful, potentially lengthy situation that has been proven to have several psychological consequences.

Thus, several stressors, fears of infection, frustration, boredom, inadequate supplies, inadequate information, financial loss, and stigma have been correlated with psychopathological symptoms as well as post-traumatic symptoms.

In addition, these people face many barriers to accessing health care and preventive vaccinations.

In this webinar, we want to focus on transcultural aspects of COVID-19 in different parts of the world and discuss them with you. The link will be forwarded to the participants after registration.

See: https://www.wpa-tps.org/events/

WPA 2020 Thematic Congess on Intersectional Collaboration 10-12.12.20

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Dear colleagues and friends,

www.wpathematic.org

Considering the challenging situation caused by the global pandemic, WPA is pleased to announce that its exclusive virtual congress for 2020 and the first Thematic Congress during 2020-23 term: the WPA 2020 Thematic Congress on intersectional collaboration “Psychological Trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health”, will be delivered virtually on 10-12 December 2020.

As WPA’s faculty and delegates wellbeing comes first, this virtual event promises to deliver to you safely, a state-of-the-art scientific content, broadcasted from the historic city of Athens – symbol of wisdom and endurance for the global psychiatric community.

WPA 2020 Thematic Congress on intersectional collaboration will be a first in three major aspects: Firstly, it aims at bringing together both the psychiatric and the somatic medicine community. Secondly, it will be conceptualized as an intersectional meeting as WPA’s scientific Sections will jointly work towards a truly

interdisciplinary program cutting across diagnostic entities, methodological approaches, and treatment strategies. Thirdly, it will not only be a meeting of professionals but also a forum bringing true trialogue to the center stage as we will make this meeting a forum where the voices of patients, of highly traumatized fellow human beings and their families will be heard.

With the theme Psychological trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health, this meeting will build on the experiences of WPA’s 2017- 2020 Action Plan and will be at the forefront of science as psychological traumas are now clearly established by several worldwide studies as the single avoidable group of contributors to the occurrence of mental health disorders.

Your active participation will undoubtedly contribute to a successful and productive WPA congress.

Looking forward to welcoming you in our virtual congress!

Dr. Afzal Javed President WPA & President of the CongressProf. Thomas G. Schulze WPA Secretary for Scientific Sections Chair of the Scientific CommitteeProf. Dimitrios Ploumpidis President Hellenic Psychiatric Association Chair of the Organizing CommitteeProf. George Christodoulou Honorary President of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association Co-President of the Congress

Information on Corona-Virus in different languages

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www.integrationsbeauftragte.de/corona-virus

Flyer available in the following languages: German, English, French, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Farsi, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Vietnamese, Dari, Tigrinja, Albanian, Czech and soon Croatian.

www.corona-ethnomed.sprachwahl.info-data.info

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Information and practical tips in 37 languages

COVID-19 Resource Centre

EPA Recommendations

Hoping to contribute to reducing the negative psychological consequences of the pandemic, the EPA provides the following recommendations for maintaining good mental health through these difficult times:

European Resources in 10 languages

Articles:

The Lancet Psychiatry
Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak

The Lancet
COVID-19 Resource Centre with open-access papers

The Lancet Psychiatry

Psychiatric and neuropsychiatric presentations associated with severe coronavirus infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis with comparison to the COVID-19 pandemic

European Psychiatry

Editorial: The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and implications for clinical practice

Royal College of Psychiatrists
Links to Covid-19 resources for clinicians

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32302816/

Psychiatry Res.

Psychological symptoms of ordinary Chinese citizens based on SCL-90 during the level I emergency response to COVID-19           

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32917303/

Trends Neurosci Educ 

Masked education? The benefits and burdens of wearing face masks in schools during the current Corona pandemic  

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32849149/

Front Psychol.

Psychosocial Support for Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

WPA-TPS: Action Plan 2020-2023:

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This action plan is preliminary and may need to be adapted due to the COVID-19 PANDEMIC

  • Conferences: Besides the symposia at various congresses:

2020      Business meetings

4 joint symposia proposals submitted for the WPA- Intersectional Congress on “Psychological Trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health” on 11-13 December, Athens, Greece

2021

  • The postponed 20th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry, 10-13 March, Bangkok, Thailand
  • Congress of the European Psychiatric Association in Florence on “Personalising and Integrating Mental Health Care in the Digital Era“ , 10-13 April, Italy
  • 6th World Congress of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry on The cultural perspective in psychiatry on „Moving forward to meet the needs of a globalizing society“, 18-20 November, Rotterdam, Netherlands:

In planning: A conference on Refugees and Asylum Seekers (worldwide) 2021 will be organized by WPA-TPS in collaboration between WACP, SSPC, Section on Cultural Psychiatry of the EPA, Gladet (Latinamerican ), Asian and African Platform: The idea ist to bring together all associations and sections on cultural psychiatry (if possible) to a conference in Rotterdam during the WACP congress 2021.

  • Congress of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Berlin, Germany
  • Annual meeting oft he Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, Canada

2022    Different conferences, business meeting

2023    Different conferences, business meeting, new elections

  • Communication with members and others (section, individuals, other associations) will be stepped up
  • Website (WPA and WPA-TPS); will be update regular; a lot a lot of information can be found; Hans is Webmaster with a Dutch man is his technical help; facebook, emails about single issues (linkeIn, twitter)
  • Newsletter: what is useful, what do we want as section board, what do the members need / want. Who gives what messages? Is the newsletter still a medium of use? Who reads the report form congresses in the past?  
  • Recruitment of new members: Suggestion to make a member only part on the website (Robert); Results of discussion during the business meeting:

The importance of recruiting members from low income countries was stressed.

The importance of informing about the section on WPA meetings and being connected with other organisations was stressed. Suggestions for recruitment:  information about the section in the WPA newsletter; make a flyer as a pdf on the website, information about the section on the WPA website; make a short video targeted towards young psychiatrist about the section and put it on you tube. 

  • Development and member relations
  • Special issue TP:  Special Issue of TP on „Training in culture and migration Mental Health“, Deadline for manuscript submission December 1, 2020.  

The board will formulate in collaboration with Laurence Kirmayer, chief-editor of Transcultural psychiatry, guidelines on how to work with the yearly special issue.

  • Hamburg´s Discussion Document needs a follow up, 2021
  • Cooperation with SSPC and WACP  
  • Attention mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on vulnerable groups. Information on different languages and links to ta articles will be added to the web page of the section.
  • Webbinares two times a year

Stockholm 2020-09-06

A Call to Action on Racism and Social Justice in Mental Health

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Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC1; Suman Fernando, MD2; Jaswant Guzder, MD3; Myrna Lashley, PhD4; Cécile Rousseau, MD5; Meryam Schouler-Ocak, MD6;

Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD7; Kenneth Fung, MD8; G. Eric Jarvis, MD, MSc9

A position statement developed by the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s (CPA) Transcultural Section and approved by the CPA Board of Directors on July 9, 2020.

 

We write as academics who study the impact of culture on mental health, clinicians who strive to provide equitable mental health care and representatives of organizations devoted to advancing the field of cultural psychiatry. We join our voices to those in the USA and around the world calling for social chang to address the longstanding violence and inequities of systemic racism and discrimination.

As mental health practitioners, we see up close the devastating personal consequences of racism and discrimination on those viewed as other and dehumanized. Beyond the shocking examples of murderous hatred, crushing the breath of Black individuals or hunting them in the streets, there are persistent and pervasive inequities in society that result in members of the dominant group receiving daily benefits while others—people of colour, racialized minorities, people with diverse gender or sexual orientations, languages or religions—are disqualified, silenced and attacked or else rendered invisible in the name of an illusory equality.

As researchers, we have documented the ways in which the social systems and structures created by colonization, slavery and economic exploitation have become institutionalized and incorporated into our ways of life and perceptions of each other so that they are seen as natural or necessary, and violently defended by targeting those who challenge the status quo. Seeing these poisons in society clearly requires coming to terms with one’s own position. Not surprisingly, it seems to be more difficult for those in positions of power and privilege to recognize the violence and inequity than for those who feel the boots of oppression every day.

As advocates, we want to add our voices to those calling for change and to insist that this is vital and urgent for the mental health and well-being of all in society. We thus commit ourselves and our organizations to work assiduously toward ensuring that:

  1. The mental health professions train and sustain a workforce that fully reflects the diversity of society.

Representation within the profession is a basic step toward equity and service users, as well as the larger community, must be engaged to help reshape education and practice.

  • Our educational and clinical environments are inclusive, responsive, empowering and safe for people of colour and anyone facing discrimination. This safety means that it is possible for individuals to talk about the predicaments they face and to call out injustice without fear of reprisal.
  • We actively question, challenge and counter the biases and assumptions built into mental health theory and practice. These biases are present in how people are described, problems are framed and explained, and in what remains unstated and ignored in clinical practice.
  • Beyond the clinical realm, we actively engage with public health approaches to address the social suffering caused by inequities and resist the pathologization of the distress stemming from injustices and human rights violations.
  • We support the larger social forces of change set in motion by people of colour and others committed to social justice to transform our institutions of education, health, policing, government and commerce, both locally and internationally.

At this moment of societal recognition, we call on our colleagues in the fields of psychiatry, psychology and other mental health professions, as well as the wider community at home and internationally, to join us in this global effort to push back against oppression and remake civil society into a place of solidarity, mutual recognition and respect, with constant striving for equity and justice.

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