B. Carpiniello, Italy
Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health University of Cagliari Italian Psychiatric Association; Secretary of the EPA-Council of NPAsPresenter of 4 Presentations
Live Q&A
Live Q&A
NPA0003 - Ethical Issues Under the Pressure of COVID-19 Pandemic
ABSTRACT
Abstract Body
The pandemic has highlighted with particular evidence the vulnerability of people with mental disorders and a series of specific ethical concerns regarding their condition. First of all, the risk of receiving poor medical care due to the double stigma of being affected by a mental disorder and Covid infection, in addition to the many other additional barriers , including poverty, marginal housing, and food insecurity. Moreover, in some countries, in a situation where demands for intensive care exceeded the treatment facilities available, the tragical ethical dilemma regarding the choice of people to be saved was resolved with the option in favor of healthier and/or younger people who have more chances of recovery, thus excluding, among others, aged people with severe mental disorders such as dementias. In other countries, ethical concerns emerged related to the enhanced risk of involuntary hospital admission of individuals with severe mental illness mainly due the high likelihood of these patients violating physical-distancing and other safety rules. Social distancing measures have determined, among others, relevant obstacles for direct access to psychiatric care services, with the consequent adoption of the so called “telepsychiatry” of “tele mental health” by mental health services, a measure which unfortunately has cut off a large amount of patients who have not been able to benefit from these innovative methods of care both because of barriers posed by their own serious mental conditions, and by the impossibility of having the necessary technology.
S0070 - Stigma Towards Patients with Schizophrenia and Other Mental Disorders: Challenges and Interventions in Italy
ABSTRACT
Abstract Body
Stigma toward mental illness is considered a major public health problem, being a significant obstacle for the access to care by people with psychiatric disorders, not only the severe ones but also those improperly called “minor” disorders, as recent research demonstrates. Moreover, stigma per se causes further sufference, undermining the quality of life of those who suffer from mental disorders due to discrimination, social isolation and lack of opportunities. Thus, combating stigma is one of the main goal of mental health policies worldwide. After the 1978 Reform Act, substantial ideological and practical changes were introduced in Italy, such as, among others, the abandonement of custodial care and of the dangerousness criterion for involuntary treatments, along with the development of a nationwide system in mental health care. Notwithstanding there relevant changes and more than forty years of experience in community treatment of mental disorders and the widespread implementation of interventions oriented to social inclusion, no data about significant changes in public stigma toward mentally ill people could be registered in our country. Moreover, a quite limited number of specific anti-stigma programmes and campaigns at a national or local level were developed with a correspondently paucity of research regarding the evaluation of these interventions with specific reference to their quality and effectiveness