Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

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According to epidemiological studies dual disorders are the expectation, not an exception. These studies indicate that more than 75% of people with severe mental disorders also have addiction disorders, which are indeed other mental disorders.
Therefore, the application of best practices which identify and treat Dual Disorders cannot be restricted to small subpopulations. It´s necessary to extend development of models on Dual Disorders to the entire care system and that will require integrated system planning involving both mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies.
Studies on the root causes of Dual Disorders will enable us to better serve the patients for whom SUDs and Addictions are only part of the problem.
In fact, from the perspective of clinical neuroscience, with a transdiagnostic approach, we are talking not about two separate disorders, but actually about a single disorder manifesting itself in two ways, for example in depression and alcohol use disorder. These must be thought about and treated together.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a great challenge for the existing health systems. The restrictions imposed across countries on the movement of people and the realignment of health care services in response to the pandemic are likely to negatively affect the health status and delivery of mental health services to persons with dual disorders (PWDD). To better understand the problems and focus areas for improving the management of dual disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic, the World
Association of Dual Disorders (WADD) conducted an online survey. The survey questions explored the following: details of the treatment facility for dual disorders, types of services offered, impact of the COVID-19 situation on these services (impact on clinical demand, impact on access to services, other concerns related to COVID-19, level of continuation of treatment services), patients’ relapse or recurrence, concern or hesitancy among patients while visiting the treatment facility or service providers, staffing changes, satisfaction with preparedness and perceived adequacy of responses. This presentation shall offer the findings from the survey. Also, it shall make recommendations that can help strengthen the services for dual disorders going ahead.

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While acknowledging the benefits of social media for individuals and society, there is growing recognition of the risks associated with their use. The distinct power of these platforms to stealthily alter behavior combined with their global reach, raises concerns about the potential for adverse effects on the health of billions of users. I will review recent studies showing that some types of social media use can lead to addictive-like behaviors, disruption of sleep patterns, social jet lag and psychopathology, particularly among young users. These combined phenomena, whose underlying mechanisms are likely to be self-reinforcing, could engender new patterns of comorbid disorders that public health officials and clinicians should be aware of. While more research is needed, the available evidence and the sheer scale of human exposure to social media warrant a more vigorous debate about whether and what type of new regulatory frameworks might be needed to avert the intended and unintended health consequences of unbridled social network technologies, including neurotechnologies that exploit dopaminergic reward circuits.