Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

This symposium will present three case studies illustrating the resources of different areas of philosophy (phenomenology, analytic philosophy and African philosophy) for meeting the values challenges presented by shared decision-making in psychiatry and mental health. The importance of shared decision-making between clinician and patient, as the basis of personalized care, is increasingly widely recognised in all areas of medicine. Shared decision-making requires clinician and patient to come to a shared understanding of the relevant evidence (of the risks and benefits of the evidence-based interventions available) and how this connects with the values of (i.e., what matters or is important to) the individual patient concerned. Both sides of this model of shared decision-making (both its values side and its evidence side) present particular challenges for psychiatry. The case studies presented in this symposium illustrate some of the philosophical resources available from different parts of the world for meeting the values side of the challenges presented by shared decision-making in psychiatry and mental health. The symposium will be in three main sections: introduction and presentation of case studies (30 mins); plenary panel Q&A (20 mins); outline of a new international ‘Meta-Masters’ training programme (10 mins).