Welcome to the EPA 2021 Interactive Programme

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53 Sessions
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  • Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
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Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
08:00 - 09:30
Room
Channel 6
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Persons with severe mental disorders frequently experience discrimination and isolation due to the high levels of stigmatizing behaviours and attitudes held by the general population. Furthermore, stigma represents a significant obstacle not only for people suffering from mental disorders, but also for their relatives and their loved ones, who also experience stigma by association. Fighting stigma represents an “old unmet need” in the mental health field and several international and national organizations have promoted interventions for challenging stigma and improving mental health literacy in the general population. It has been clearly demonstrated that the specific cultural background can impact on the development of stigmatized belief, behaviours and attitudes about people with mental disorders. Therefore, in order to overcome stigma effectively it is needed a multicultural social perspective, even for adapting antistigma initiatives to the specific cultural context of each country or region. Although so many efforts have been put forward in fighting stigma and ending discrimination against disadvantaged people, stigma has not been overcome yet. There is the need to develop new effective, multimodal, integrated strategies in order to challenging effectively stigma. In this symposium, national experiences from different European countries will be discussed, with a specific focus on the future perspectives of research in the field of stigma and discrimination.

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Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Date
Tue, 13.04.2021
Session Time
17:30 - 19:00
Room
Channel 4
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA section on Neuroimaging -Brain subregional shrinkage is commonly reported in major affective and non -affective psychosis, but its role in the illness is still poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear how clinical and psychosocial variables relate to brain volumes across the life span.  In particular, longitudinal studies have reported a correlation between larger ventricles, decreased prefrontal volumes and worse outcome in psychoses. This would potentially allow to isolate subtypes of schizophrenia patients with a worse prognosis and more evident biological impairments, ultimately helping in designing specific cognitive rehabilitation. This symposium will focus on the correlations between environmental variables and psychotic and affective disorders. Four international recognised speakers in the field will represent countries from Europe, UK and USA. Prof. Kirkbride will describe whether environmental factors (e.g. urbanicity, migrancy, residential stability) may relate to increased risk of affective and non-affective psychosis. Prof. Fiorillo will delineate the impact of adversities during adolescence on the development of psychosocial disability and mental disorders, and how these can influence their long-term trajectory.  Prof. Brambilla will show the impact of disability and social functioning on brain anatomy in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Prof. Frangou will present data from a nationally representative  cohort of 10,000 children aged 9-10 years in the US, quantifying the effect of being raised in a psychosocially disadvantage environment and delineating the separate and cumulative effect of risk and protective factors. It has finally to be noted that this is an official proposal from the  EPA Neuroimaging Section.

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Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section
Educational
Date
Tue, 13.04.2021
Session Time
15:30 - 17:00
Room
Channel 5
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

The social, economic and scientific changes occurred in the recent years have had, and are still having, a significant impact on psychiatric practice and on the clinical presentation of many mental disorders. Some traditional syndromes seem to be disappeared, such as catatonia, while new forms of mental health problems are coming to psychiatric consultation. Despite these significant changes, psychiatry as a profession still bases its education, research and clinical practice on a knowledge developed over the last two centuries. Social changes are modifying the role of psychiatrists and of mental health professionals in the modern society and therefore there is the need to re-think the agenda for educational needs of the future generation of psychiatrists. In this workshop, speakers will discuss the main unmet needs in education in psychiatry from different perspectives, from psychopharmacology to social psychiatry, with a specific focus on the impact of the pandemic on the educational needs of early career psychiatrists.

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Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Clinical/Therapeutic
Date
Sun, 11.04.2021
Session Time
17:30 - 19:00
Room
Channel 5
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA Section on Schizophrenia -Apathy as a negative symptom of schizophrenia is conceptualized in terms of reduction of goal directed behavior due to a lack of interest and motivation for goal-directed behavior initiation and persistence. The revised diagnostic criteria for apathy (DCA) have been proposed for trans-diagnostic use to better identify apathy across a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. The Section workshop aims to illustrate and discuss the overlap and specificity of apathy in schizophrenia with the trans-diagnostic construct identified by using the DCA. A European study on apathy in schizophrenia will be illustrated and preliminary findings reviewed to highlight the limitations of apathy as defined by the DCA in the context of schizophrenia. The relationships of apathy defined using DCA with the negative symptom domain of Avolition in schizophrenia and its overlap with functional impairment due to cognitive deficits/ depression/ extrapyramidal side effects will be discussed. Data in first-episode patients with schizophrenia will be reviewed to illustrate how the negative symptom domains and cognitive impairment are key factors in the prediction of long-term impairment in real-life functioning. Finally, the therapeutic perspectives for the treatment of apathy in schizophrenia, both when primary to the disorder process or secondary to other dimensions of schizophrenia will be reviewed and discussed.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section
Educational
Date
Tue, 13.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 5
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an important impact on mental healthcare worldwide. This led to a change in the daily life and working conditions for many psychiatrist and psychiatric trainees. Next to the implementation of the rules on social distancing and teleconsultations, the COVID-19 pandemic required adaptations to psychiatric education practices. Since the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to an increase in mental health problems, an adequate psychiatric training is of the utmost importance. In this symposium we discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric education across Europe. We touch upon different aspects of psychiatric education, from psychiatric training, over early career psychiatrists to continuous medical education (CME). By demonstrating the encountered challenges and opportunities, we hope to contribute to the improvement of psychiatric education in the future. This symposium encompasses four presentations of surveys led by several organisations working on psychiatric training across Europe: the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT), the European Psychiatric Association Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (EPA-ECPC) and the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS)- Section of Psychiatry. First, Anne Nobels presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric training, as indicated by over 40 country representatives in the EFPT country surveys. Second, Tomasz Gondek and Asilay Seker introduce the results of an EPA-ECPC and EFPT led questionnaire among early career psychiatrists taking both the General Adult Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry perspective on COVID-19 into account. Finally, Marisa Casanova Dias presents the UEMS viewpoint on the impact of COVID-19 on CME.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Clinical/Therapeutic
Date
Tue, 13.04.2021
Session Time
17:30 - 19:00
Room
Channel 6
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Cognitive dysfunctions represent a core feature of schizophrenia, are present at any stage of the disease and also in subjects at high risk for psychosis (UHR), and have a significant impact on subject’s psychosocial functioning. Pharmacological treatment is modestly effective on cognitive dimension while there is considerable evidence of the efficacy of cognitive remediation interventions on cognition and functioning of patients with schizophrenia. The Symposium has the aim of updating knowledge about the effectiveness and applicability of cognitive remediation techniques in schizophrenia, with a focus also on new developments and technologies. In particular: - will be presented a systematic review on the factors and ingredients influencing response to cognitive remediation in schizophrenia; will be discussed the applicability of cognitive remediation programs in UHR subjects and their effectiveness in preventing transition to psychosis; - will be discussed the biological signatures and effects of cognitive remediation, as revealed especially by neuroimaging techniques; - finally, a specific lecture will address the present and future developments of cognitive remediation for psychoses, focusing also on programs using new technologies, and discussing promises and limitations of the new approaches in the digital era.

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Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Mental Health Policy
Date
Sun, 11.04.2021
Session Time
15:30 - 17:00
Room
Channel 6
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA Section on Prevention of Mental Disorders. - Early intervention in Psychosis is one of the most dynamic and original areas in contemporary mental health for several interrelated reasons. Indeed, in the last two decades EIP has been a tremendous catalyzer for research, service-reform and concept-innovation in the broader field of psychiatry. However, as every innovative paradigm, EIP has entered a maturity phase in which reconceptualization of goals, strategies and opportunities to solve wide-scale, real-world problems are mandatory. This symposium will offer a critical, multilateral over-view of the EIP field, capitalizing on the contribution of leading international clinicians and researchers who have a direct, plurennial experience in the field. The symposium proposal is a collegial expression of the EPA Section of prevention of mental disorders.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section
Educational
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
08:00 - 09:30
Room
Channel 5
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

The symposium will present four scenarios for the future of psychiatry – seen by psychiatrists with predominantly national experience at the beginning, middle and  top of their career and by a psychiatrist with nearly fifty years of work on international mental health and psychiatry issues. The perspectives will differ and it is expected that taken jointly they will present a more realistic estimate of psychiatry in the future than those usually forecast. The presentations will address issues of diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders as well as those of training for psychiatry and its role in public health efforts. The presentations will also touch upon matters such as the impact of new digital technology and trends of telemedicine,  advances in the management of comorbidity of mental and physical disorders, and the role of psychiatry in future global crises such as those caused by pandemics and pollution and climate change.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 4
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Nutritional psychiatry There is truth in the saying, “you are what you eat.” We may often feel better when we eat better, a healthy diet may have an impact on mental health. The impact that food has on mood and other aspects of mental illness is topic of this symposium. Nutritional psychiatry is developing into a real opportunity for clinical intervention for patients who suffer from brain diseases as depression and anxiety. In this symposium novel approaches towards unraveling how food impacts on brain health are presented as an introduction to a discussion where the focus of future research in nutritional psychiatry should be.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A
Educational
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
08:00 - 09:30
Room
Channel 4
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA sections on Old Age Psychiatry and Suicidology and Suicide Prevention -At advanced age, rates of males diverge even more from those of females. A better understanding of these factors may reduce the toll of suicide at these extreme ages as Prof. de Leo is going to discuss. Prof. Zeppegno will focus on the even twofold rate of suicidal behaviours when there is a chronic or terminal illness. Psychiatrists and geriatricians will likely meet mentally competent older adults expressing a wish to die: sometimes entangled with e.g.chronic illness, sometimes in the absence of terminal illness, but due to the feeling that they have already lived a completed life. The possibility of a "rational suicide" will be discussed. Prof. Stek is going to discuss the problem that in late life depression the clinical management of suicidality is often complicated by the presence of physical and neuropsychiatric comorbidity. Moreover, in The Netherlands the position of euthanasia in end of life choices may interfere with available diagnostic and treatment options. The challenges of well substanciated decision making in these situations will be discussed. Although interventions for suicide prevention are known, their relative effect for the elderly in general have not been explored. Prof. van der Feltz-Cornelis will discuss in her lecture what could be aspects of relevance for interventions in this specific age group. And finally Prof. Hegerl will show – at the example of a recent increase in gassing suicides – which role the media and especially the internet plays for the methods of suicide and what it could mean for suicide prevention.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section
Clinical/Therapeutic
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
17:30 - 19:00
Room
Channel 7
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA section on Old Age Psychiatry -The COVID 19 pandemic quickly showed that the older population is a risk group with particular vulnerability. This was particularly true for patients with dementia. They had difficulty understanding the situation, observing distance rules and using masks appropriately. The situation is particularly difficult in nursing homes. In many countries the visit of relatives and also doctors in nursing homes has been banned. Nevertheless, the proportion of people who died in these institutions was high in all countries, for example in Germany up to one third of deaths. What consequences this has and has had for nursing homes, relatives, dementia patients and the people caring for them is to be discussed in greater depth in this symposium, with particular attention being paid to ethical aspects. It will also be discussed which preventive measures can be derived for the future.

Session Icon
Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section
Clinical/Therapeutic
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
19:30 - 21:00
Room
Channel 3
Session Description
The Live Q&A of this session will take place in the Live Sessions auditorium. Please refer to the interactive programme for the exact time and channel.

Proposed by the EPA section on Schizophrenia and Prevention of Mental Disorders -Psychotic disorders and particularly schizophrenia are severe mental illnesses which typically emerge during adolescence and young adulthood. This symposium will address two important components of early intervention aiming at improving functional outcomes in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, namely timely assessment and treatment. Briefly, Prof. Mucci (Italy) will discuss functional impairment in recent-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders, Prof. Glenthøj (Denmark) will focus on early assessment of negative symptoms and related treatment strategies. Then Prof. Thorup (Denmark) will illuminate the often neglected aspect of Family high risk populations and their value for the purpose of early intervention. Finally, Prof. Rancans (Latvia) will present a critical overview of the treatment of schizophrenia from a real world perspective.

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Pre-Recorded with Live Q&A, Section