Committee on Ethics
The Committee on Ethics contributes to the development of the EPA’s position statements on ethical issues such as migration, prisons, assisted suicide, psychedelics, transgender matters, and racism. It collaborates with the EPA National Psychiatric Associations to promote high ethical standards in psychiatric research and clinical practice. The Committee also organises dedicated events during the EPA Congresses and other independent meetings addressing ethical challenges in psychiatry across Europe. In addition, it actively collects information through surveys to monitor how ethical issues in psychiatry are being addressed in Europe and beyond.
Committee on Ethics Members 2025
Prof. Meryam Schouler-Ocak - Chair
Germany
Prof. Eka Chkonia
Georgia
Prof. Silvana Galderisi
Italy
Dr. Luís Madeira
Portugal
Dr. Sofie Bäärnhielm
Sweden
Dr. Mariana Pinto da Costa
UK
Prof. Thomas Pollmächer
Germany
Dr. Goran Račetović
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Prof. Jerzy Samochowiec
Poland
Prof. Simavi Vahip
Türkiye
Activities
The EPA Committee on Ethics is conducting the following activities:
Creation and dissemination of the EPA Code of Ethics
Events
- Participation in lectures, interactive seminars or courses during National Psychiatric Associations’ local conferences
- Organisation of Ethical CME Courses during EPA European Congresses of Psychiatry
Publications
- Policy paper of the Committee on Ethics and Task Force on Migration and Mental Health: Migration and mental health of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers – Ethical dilemmas and concerns, European Psychiatry, Volume 68 , Issue 1 , 2025 , e153
- Research article: Comparing the World Psychiatric Association and European Psychiatric Association Codes of Ethics: Discrepancies and shared grounds, European Psychiatry, Volume 67, Issue 1, 2024
- “Compulsory admissions of patients with mental disorders: State of the art on ethical and legislative aspects in 40 European countries“, European Psychiatry Journal, 63 (1), e82, 1–9”
- In June 2022, the EPA and the Committee on Ethical Issues issued a statement and call for action to raise awareness on the mental health consequences of the war in Ukraine: “The war in Ukraine: Raising the attention for mental health consequences and call for action“
Surveys
- Survey on Ethics in Psychiatric Practice to collect information from inpatient treatment settings of individual wards in psychiatric hospitals Europe-wide.
- Survey on The Rights of People with Lived Experience of Mental Ill Health and Informal Carers
- Survey on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (ASAE) in Psychiatric Patients