News about WPA-TPS related matters.
Recommendation for dealing with people in crisis situations and following difficult life events
The Pompidou Group, together with leading European psycho-trauma experts, has developed recommendations on how people can better interact and communicate with persons who have experienced a crisis or difficult life event. The recommendations were developed at the request of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior and in light of the traumatic situations experienced by the Ukrainian population due to the ongoing Russian hostilities in Ukraine.
Being the continent’s leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe regards the protection of civilians of utmost importance. Traumatic experiences can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Epidemiological studies show that people with trauma and PTSD are more likely to have problems with alcohol and/or drug use. All Pompidou Group partners and supporters are encouraged to disseminate these important guidelines to anyone who is helping people who experienced traumatic situations, especially government and civil society workers, volunteers actively helping Ukrainian people for example in conflict areas, at the borders and in emergency facilities.
The recommendations are now available in 10 languages, which can be downloaded via the link below:
https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou/-/psychological-first-aid-for-ukrainian-people
WPA 2020 Thematic Congess on Intersectional Collaboration 10-12.12.20
Dear colleagues and friends,
www.wpathematic.org
Considering the challenging situation caused by the global pandemic, WPA is pleased to announce that its exclusive virtual congress for 2020 and the first Thematic Congress during 2020-23 term: the WPA 2020 Thematic Congress on intersectional collaboration “Psychological Trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health”, will be delivered virtually on 10-12 December 2020.
As WPA’s faculty and delegates wellbeing comes first, this virtual event promises to deliver to you safely, a state-of-the-art scientific content, broadcasted from the historic city of Athens – symbol of wisdom and endurance for the global psychiatric community.
WPA 2020 Thematic Congress on intersectional collaboration will be a first in three major aspects: Firstly, it aims at bringing together both the psychiatric and the somatic medicine community. Secondly, it will be conceptualized as an intersectional meeting as WPA’s scientific Sections will jointly work towards a truly
interdisciplinary program cutting across diagnostic entities, methodological approaches, and treatment strategies. Thirdly, it will not only be a meeting of professionals but also a forum bringing true trialogue to the center stage as we will make this meeting a forum where the voices of patients, of highly traumatized fellow human beings and their families will be heard.
With the theme Psychological trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health, this meeting will build on the experiences of WPA’s 2017- 2020 Action Plan and will be at the forefront of science as psychological traumas are now clearly established by several worldwide studies as the single avoidable group of contributors to the occurrence of mental health disorders.
Your active participation will undoubtedly contribute to a successful and productive WPA congress.
Looking forward to welcoming you in our virtual congress!
| Dr. Afzal Javed President WPA & President of the Congress | Prof. Thomas G. Schulze WPA Secretary for Scientific Sections Chair of the Scientific Committee | Prof. Dimitrios Ploumpidis President Hellenic Psychiatric Association Chair of the Organizing Committee | Prof. George Christodoulou Honorary President of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association Co-President of the Congress |
Information on Corona-Virus in different languages
www.integrationsbeauftragte.de/corona-virus
Flyer available in the following languages: German, English, French, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Farsi, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Vietnamese, Dari, Tigrinja, Albanian, Czech and soon Croatian.
www.corona-ethnomed.sprachwahl.info-data.info
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Information and practical tips in 37 languages
EPA Recommendations
Hoping to contribute to reducing the negative psychological consequences of the pandemic, the EPA provides the following recommendations for maintaining good mental health through these difficult times:
European Resources in 10 languages
Articles:
The Lancet Psychiatry
Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak
The Lancet
COVID-19 Resource Centre with open-access papers
The Lancet Psychiatry
European Psychiatry
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Links to Covid-19 resources for clinicians
Psychiatry Res.
Psychological symptoms of ordinary Chinese citizens based on SCL-90 during the level I emergency response to COVID-19
Trends Neurosci Educ
Masked education? The benefits and burdens of wearing face masks in schools during the current Corona pandemic
Front Psychol.
Psychosocial Support for Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
WPA-TPS: Action Plan 2020-2023:
This action plan is preliminary and may need to be adapted due to the COVID-19 PANDEMIC
- Conferences: Besides the symposia at various congresses:
2020 Business meetings
4 joint symposia proposals submitted for the WPA- Intersectional Congress on “Psychological Trauma: Global burden on mental and physical health” on 11-13 December, Athens, Greece
2021
- The postponed 20th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry, 10-13 March, Bangkok, Thailand
- Congress of the European Psychiatric Association in Florence on “Personalising and Integrating Mental Health Care in the Digital Era“ , 10-13 April, Italy
- 6th World Congress of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry on The cultural perspective in psychiatry on „Moving forward to meet the needs of a globalizing society“, 18-20 November, Rotterdam, Netherlands:
In planning: A conference on Refugees and Asylum Seekers (worldwide) 2021 will be organized by WPA-TPS in collaboration between WACP, SSPC, Section on Cultural Psychiatry of the EPA, Gladet (Latinamerican ), Asian and African Platform: The idea ist to bring together all associations and sections on cultural psychiatry (if possible) to a conference in Rotterdam during the WACP congress 2021.
- Congress of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Berlin, Germany
- Annual meeting oft he Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, Canada
2022 Different conferences, business meeting
2023 Different conferences, business meeting, new elections
- Communication with members and others (section, individuals, other associations) will be stepped up
- Website (WPA and WPA-TPS); will be update regular; a lot a lot of information can be found; Hans is Webmaster with a Dutch man is his technical help; facebook, emails about single issues (linkeIn, twitter)
- Newsletter: what is useful, what do we want as section board, what do the members need / want. Who gives what messages? Is the newsletter still a medium of use? Who reads the report form congresses in the past?
- Recruitment of new members: Suggestion to make a member only part on the website (Robert); Results of discussion during the business meeting:
The importance of recruiting members from low income countries was stressed.
The importance of informing about the section on WPA meetings and being connected with other organisations was stressed. Suggestions for recruitment: information about the section in the WPA newsletter; make a flyer as a pdf on the website, information about the section on the WPA website; make a short video targeted towards young psychiatrist about the section and put it on you tube.
- Development and member relations
- Special issue TP: Special Issue of TP on „Training in culture and migration Mental Health“, Deadline for manuscript submission December 1, 2020.
The board will formulate in collaboration with Laurence Kirmayer, chief-editor of Transcultural psychiatry, guidelines on how to work with the yearly special issue.
- Hamburg´s Discussion Document needs a follow up, 2021
- Cooperation with SSPC and WACP
- Attention mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on vulnerable groups. Information on different languages and links to ta articles will be added to the web page of the section.
- Webbinares two times a year
Stockholm 2020-09-06
A Call to Action on Racism and Social Justice in Mental Health
Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC1; Suman Fernando, MD2; Jaswant Guzder, MD3; Myrna Lashley, PhD4; Cécile Rousseau, MD5; Meryam Schouler-Ocak, MD6;
Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD7; Kenneth Fung, MD8; G. Eric Jarvis, MD, MSc9
A position statement developed by the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s (CPA) Transcultural Section and approved by the CPA Board of Directors on July 9, 2020.
We write as academics who study the impact of culture on mental health, clinicians who strive to provide equitable mental health care and representatives of organizations devoted to advancing the field of cultural psychiatry. We join our voices to those in the USA and around the world calling for social chang to address the longstanding violence and inequities of systemic racism and discrimination.
As mental health practitioners, we see up close the devastating personal consequences of racism and discrimination on those viewed as other and dehumanized. Beyond the shocking examples of murderous hatred, crushing the breath of Black individuals or hunting them in the streets, there are persistent and pervasive inequities in society that result in members of the dominant group receiving daily benefits while others—people of colour, racialized minorities, people with diverse gender or sexual orientations, languages or religions—are disqualified, silenced and attacked or else rendered invisible in the name of an illusory equality.
As researchers, we have documented the ways in which the social systems and structures created by colonization, slavery and economic exploitation have become institutionalized and incorporated into our ways of life and perceptions of each other so that they are seen as natural or necessary, and violently defended by targeting those who challenge the status quo. Seeing these poisons in society clearly requires coming to terms with one’s own position. Not surprisingly, it seems to be more difficult for those in positions of power and privilege to recognize the violence and inequity than for those who feel the boots of oppression every day.
As advocates, we want to add our voices to those calling for change and to insist that this is vital and urgent for the mental health and well-being of all in society. We thus commit ourselves and our organizations to work assiduously toward ensuring that:
- The mental health professions train and sustain a workforce that fully reflects the diversity of society.
Representation within the profession is a basic step toward equity and service users, as well as the larger community, must be engaged to help reshape education and practice.
- Our educational and clinical environments are inclusive, responsive, empowering and safe for people of colour and anyone facing discrimination. This safety means that it is possible for individuals to talk about the predicaments they face and to call out injustice without fear of reprisal.
- We actively question, challenge and counter the biases and assumptions built into mental health theory and practice. These biases are present in how people are described, problems are framed and explained, and in what remains unstated and ignored in clinical practice.
- Beyond the clinical realm, we actively engage with public health approaches to address the social suffering caused by inequities and resist the pathologization of the distress stemming from injustices and human rights violations.
- We support the larger social forces of change set in motion by people of colour and others committed to social justice to transform our institutions of education, health, policing, government and commerce, both locally and internationally.
At this moment of societal recognition, we call on our colleagues in the fields of psychiatry, psychology and other mental health professions, as well as the wider community at home and internationally, to join us in this global effort to push back against oppression and remake civil society into a place of solidarity, mutual recognition and respect, with constant striving for equity and justice.
Special Issue on the topic “Training in culture and migration mental health.”
Dear Members,
In collaboration with the World Psychiatric Association, Transcultural Section (WPA-TPS), the journal Transcultural Psychiatry plans to publish a Special Issue on the topic “Training in culture and migration mental health.”
For the thematic issue, please submit the manuscript by December 1, 2020.
Best regards
Sofie Bäärnhielm, Secretary
Statement on Covid-19 and Vulnerable Populations (by WACP)
From the Special Interest Group on Coronavirus of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry 09/06/2020
Since the COVID-19 virus first manifested, in the last days of 2019 and the first months of 2020, numerous countries have taken measures at the level of national governments, states or provinces, or cities to lower the spread of infection in their populations.
At this time, it is important to point out that these measures and policies have differentially affected the mental health, physical health, and economic well-being of vulnerable populations around the world.
- In Western countries, epidemiological research has shown that racialized and ethnic minorities have borne a higher burden of illness, fueled by adverse social determinants of health and mental health patterned by racism and social injustice. Not only do minorities suffer in larger numbers from coronavirus disease, but they also suffer from the greater negative impacts of the pandemic and mitigation efforts including unemployment, loss of income, food insecurity, and less access to health care.
- In low- and middle-income countries, the disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups is even more severe. The measures taken by governments have left many millions of people who work in low-paid jobs without any income. State funding is often too limited to bridge the gap in income and food supply or to provide protective equipment to essential workers. We see this happening in India, Africa, and Latin America. In some cases, aggressive policing of these measures has been used as part of efforts to control low-income populations, even resulting in violence.
- Measures taken without adequate scientific evidence have resulted in more infections. Examples include long lines of poor people seeking financial compensation, premature reopening of regional economies and places of entertainment without sufficient testing and access to protective equipment, and limitations of public transportation causing overcrowding of buses and trains.
- Mental health care is often the last consideration in health care service planning and, with the added strain of providing care for COVID-19 cases, there is a risk of inadequate funding for mental health care.
Therefore, we call on governments at all levels to address the mental health and social impacts of the pandemic:
- To rely on scientific evidence in developing responses to the pandemic. Measures can have unforeseen side effects, especially for vulnerable populations.
- To focus on the most vulnerable populations, including those living in poverty who may lack resources to undertake mitigation efforts by devising policies and interventions that meet their needs.
- To prioritize funding to help the most vulnerable populations, not only in their own country, but worldwide. The pandemic is widening the gap between rich and poor not only within societies but also across nations. The moment has come for a worldwide initiative to mobilize financial means to ensure basic economic support for all, whether by tax policies or through international organizations.
- To address the mental health issues raised by the pandemic, both through loss of life and the effects of prolonged confinement or social distance. This includes efforts to promote social support. The impacts of grief and loss have often remained invisible due to the effects of lockdown and other restrictions on funeral rituals but may have a long-term impact on mental health.
Roberto Lewis-Fernández; Hans Rohlof; Pablo Farías; Mario Braakman; Sergio J. Villaseñor-Bayardo.
Officers of the WACP
Obituary for Ron Wintrob, M.D.
In Memory of Ronald M. Wintrob, MD (1935 -2020)
Ronald M. Wintrob was my mentor, my research collaborator, my colleague and most importantly my friend. Ron was my residency training director and one of the most significant influences on my formation as a psychiatrist. I chose to train at Brown University in 1986 due to Ron’s interest in cultural psychiatry. I have published a number of journal articles and book chapters with Ron including the chapter on Transcultural Psychiatry in Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. The most memorable publication was for the Japanese journal Psyche and Culture where our article on cultural competence was translated and neither of us could read the publication except for our names. Ron was an optimist who I never encountered without a smile. His love of life was reflected in his most recent battle with chronic medical illness and his fight to return to independent living. I have had the pleasure to meet over time his three children and Pauline his wife who passed away two years earlier. His family is a reflection of Ron’s own character. Ronald M. Wintrob, MD was an international recognized leader in psychiatric education and in the field of cultural psychiatry. He completed his undergraduate degree and medical school at the University of Toronto, and subsequently a residency in psychiatry at McGill University.
He was awarded a traveling fellowship in child psychiatry that led him to receive training in England, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. His interest in cultural medicine began in 1960 as medical director of a hospital in northern Laos. He also spent two years as the clinical and research director of Liberia’s psychiatric services and its only psychiatrist at the time. In 1966 on returning to Montreal he had faculty appointments at McGill University in both psychiatry and anthropology. After leaving McGill University, in 1967 he received academic appointments at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine both in the Department of Psychiatry and Anthropology. While on sabbatical from the University of Connecticut he began a twenty-year relationship as a visiting professor and lecturer with the University of Otago and later the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand. In New Zealand he focused his research on the cultural change of the Maori. From 1983 to 1994 Dr. Wintrob was the Director of Education and of the Residency Training Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He transformed the Brown University psychiatry residency into one of the leading programs in the United States. He was known for advocating for the educational needs of the residents when confronted by demands from hospital administrators.
His impact on cultural psychiatry is highlighted by leadership and academic production. Dr. Wintrob’s research focused on acculturative stress and adaptation among individuals and families, and on national immigration policy. While at McGill he researched change and coping ability among the Cree indigenous people of northern Quebec. In 1969 he participated in drafting the original position statement of the American Psychiatric Association on transcultural psychiatry, delineated psychiatry’s role in transcultural studies, clarified the terminology of the field, described its interdisciplinary nature, and outlined its major objectives and areas of applications.
Ronald Wintrob was one of the founders of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture in 1971 and the first president of this leading cultural psychiatry professional organization in North America. In 1983 he helped establish the Committee on Cultural Psychiatry of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry that produced a monograph on suicide, race and ethnicity in the US population, another on alcohol use and alcoholism, and in 2002, a casebook on Cultural Assessment in Clinical Psychiatry. Previously, he had chaired the Committee on International Relations of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry which published a monograph on the Middle East. He subsequently became the co-chair of the World Psychiatric Association Transcultural Psychiatry Section and in 2005 its chair for two terms. He organized numerous international cultural psychiatry conferences and promoted the field around the world. He authored and edited several books including Current Perspectives in Cultural Psychiatry and Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health, and book chapters on cultural psychiatry in leading textbooks of psychiatry. Dr. Wintrob was highly generative, publishing widely in academic journals and writing book chapters. As noted in his publications he consistently promoted his colleagues and mentees over himself insisting that they assume first authorship. Dr. Wintrob’s last publication was a book chapter in 2019 on Intracultural Psychotherapy. His academic career spanned over 59 years. He was a major influence in the evolution of cultural psychiatry and development of the field internationally. It is with sadness that I have to bid my friend farewell. Ron, however, has and will continue to have an enduring influence on my life. Being around Ron you could not help but learn about empathy and how to care about another human being. Although his colleagues around the world will remember his impact on cultural psychiatry, he will always be the mentor I first met as a psychiatry resident.
Robert Kohn, MD
Migration
Migration and Transculturality:
New Tasks in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (German)
Intercultural action in psychiatry and psychotherapy. In view of increasing levels of migration and refugee displacement, intercultural action in psychiatry and psychotherapy is essential. Practitioners are faced with the growing demands of treating patients in a culturally sensitive manner, taking socio-cultural differences into account in therapy, and often having to work across language barriers. The team of authors shows the practice-relevant implications of these developments, based on the current state of research. New developments with regard to an intercultural broadening of the psychiatric-psychotherapeutic care system are presented on the basis of numerous projects that successfully facilitate work with migrants and refugees. The book also outlines the ways in which intercultural competencies can be taught in further education, training, and professional development, and what needs to be considered with regard to supervision and assessment. Several chapters deal with the role of interpreters in the treatment of migrants.