Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

Especially in times of global crisis like the present Covid-19 pandemic, e-technology is ra-pidly conquering the health care and mental health care sector speeding up e-Mental Health (eMH) implementation on a global scale. Making this a well-organized move beyond the current situation, guidance, regulation and legislation, awareness and acceptance building must ensure efficient and safe high-quality eMH products and services. Broadening public and professional eMH literacy, developing needs-tailored approaches for specific target groups, and training the MH workforce is needed. Evaluation is required to identify how citizens may best benefit from eMH in all its varieties. Involvement of policymakers and stakeholders is required. Service standardization and global unification of ethical and medico-legal issues related to eMH, under constant technological and methodological upgrading and progress, are crucial to reduction of global disparity in access to care and improvement of international collaboration in this rapidly expanding field. Recent initiatives like the Global Future Council on Neurotechnologies of the World Economic Forum (2018/9) or the WPA-Lancet Psychiatry Commission on the Future of Psychiatry (2017) are highly welcome. WPA with recent development of Global Telepsychiatry Guidelines and introduction of the Action Plan Working Group on Digitalisation in Mental Health and Care is actively supporting this development. In this symposium, Murali Doraiswamy (USA) is opening the floor by presenting on ”Enabling Better Mental Health for All by Adoption of Digital Technologies”. Davor Mucic (Denmark) informs about the “WPA Global Telepsychiatry Guidelines”, and Wolfgang Gaebel (Germany) underscores “The Need of a Transnational Policy on e-Mental Health”.

The therapeutic efficacy of the neuroleptic drugs is well established. However, these drugs are associated with a wide range of side effects, including a variety of movement disorders. The movement disorders associated with antipsychotics are disabling and distressing and may result in behavioural disturbances. These movements. specifically Tardive Dyskinesias, are very obvious to the observer and add to the stigma of psychiatric illness. It is hence very important that a careful evaluation of these symptoms be made in all patients treated with antipsychotics, so that the balance between potential risks and benefits may be optimized. This session Neuroleptic (psychotropic induced) movement disorders-focus on tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome will discuss this topic & focuses on the evaluation of the commonly seen movement disorders and available strategies for their management.

This session is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Teva Pharmaceuticals.