european psychiatric association

Section Corner – Public Mental Health

Mental health conditions account for a large proportion of disease burden across the European region. This is due to the high prevalence of mental health conditions, the majority of lifetime mental health conditions arising before adulthood, and a broad range of impacts across health and other sectors. Poor mental wellbeing also results in broad impacts. Various factors are associated with the risk of developing mental health conditions and poor mental wellbeing including conflict and pandemics. Such factors are also important in preventing recovery from mental health conditions.

Effective public mental health (PMH) interventions exist to treat mental health conditions, prevent associated impacts, prevent mental health conditions from arising, and promote mental wellbeing and resilience. Groups at higher risk of mental health conditions and poor mental wellbeing require more targeted approaches to prevent widening of inequalities.

However, only a minority of those with mental health conditions across the European region receive any treatment with far less coverage in low- and middle-income countries. The provision of interventions to prevent associated impacts is even lower while the provision of interventions to prevent mental health conditions or promote mental wellbeing is negligible. The PMH implementation failure breaches the right to health and results in population scale preventable suffering, broad impacts and associated economic costs. Various reasons account for the gap including insufficient resource.

Defining public mental health

The EPA Public Mental Health Section adopts the WPA definition of public mental health as: A population approach to improve coverage, outcomes and coordination of PMH interventions. This supports efficient, equitable and sustainable reduction in mental health conditions, promotion of population mental wellbeing and achievement of the UN SDG target of universal coverage. 

Mission and objectives of EPA Public Mental Health Section

The EPA Public Mental Health Section was established at the EPA Congress in Paris in 2023. The mission of the EPA Public Mental Health Section is to promote the discipline of public mental health through the following objectives:

  1. Identify evidence-based implementable PMH interventions including for higher risk groups from relevant publications
  2. Support assessment of the coverage of PMH interventions by different sectors across countries in the European region
  3. Identify PMH implementation barriers
  4. Identify required actions to address PMH implementation failure across the European region
  5. Support PMH training including through recommendations on required EPA PMH syllabus and identification of existing resources
  6. Lead and support development of PMH relevant publications and guidance papers
  7. Present at conferences and webinars
  8. Work with different countries across the European region, their National Psychiatric Associations and broad range of stakeholders to support improved implementation of PMH interventions

Relevant publications                                           

Public Mental Health Training Resources across European Region

Public Mental Health Survey

The EPA has been involved in the dissemination of an international survey to explore PMH understanding, practice, training, barriers and opportunities by different sectors. The survey is also being disseminated by World Psychiatric Association, World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA), World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and GAMIAN-Europe.

Conferences

  • EPA Congress of Psychiatry 2025 (Madrid, April 2025):
    • EPA-GAMIAN-EUFAMI-WONCA Joint symposium: ‘Patients, families, primary care and mental health professionals – towards collaborative care models:  Marianne Destoop (representing the PMH Section)
    • Real-world solutions for the prevention and promotion of public mental health: Mariana Pinto da Costa, Katja Koelkebeck, Elisabetta Scanferla and Victor Buwalda (all speakers representing the PMH Section)
    • Required actions and real-world solutions to address the public mental health implementation gap across the European region: Jonathan Campion (representing the PMH Section), Geert Dom (EPA Immediate Past President), Andrea Fiorillo (EPA President) and Ledia Lazeri (Regional Adviser for Mental Health, WHO Europe)
    • Smoking and mental health – implementation opportunities and real-world solutions: Jonathan Campion (representing the PMH Section), Geert Dom (EPA Immediate Past President), Jerzy Samochowiec and Anne Høye
  • EPA Congress of Psychiatry 2024 (Budapest, April 2024):
    • Public mental health symposium: Dr Mariana Pinto da Costa and Dr Jonathan Campion (representing the PMH Section), Professor Geert Dom (EPA President), Dr Ledia Lazeri (Regional Adviser for Mental Health, WHO Europe)
    • Symposium in cooperation with the Section of Liaison psychiatry: Dr Elisabetta Scanferla and Dr Rene Keet representing the PMH Section
    • Workshop on health of homeless people: Dr Victor Buwalda representing the PMH Section

Members of WPA Public Mental Health Special Interest Group

  • Chair: Dr Mariana Pinto Da Costa (Consultant Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; Senior Lecturer at Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, UK; Invited Professor at Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal)
  • Co-chair: Dr Jonathan Campion (Director for Public Mental Health and Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Cochair of Public Mental Health Section, European Psychiatric Association; Chair of Public Mental Health Special Interest Group, World Psychiatric Association; Cochair of Public Mental Health Working Group, World Federation of Public Health Associations; Honorary Professor of Public Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa)
  • Secretary: Dr Katja Koelkebeck
  • Councillor: Dr Elisabetta Scanferla
  • First Other Councillor: Dr Marianne Destoop (Assistant Professor, University of Antwerp, Belgium)
  • Second Other Councillor: Dr Hanna Tu (Psychiatry Trainee at Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium