Joint EPA-WPA Symposium during the WPA Thematic Congress in Tbilisi

The World Psychiatric Association thematic congress, ‘Treatment and management of mental disorders in the post-pandemic era’, was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in October 2022. The congress was supported by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) and had great success among mental health professionals, scientists, and clinicians. Two hundred-and-fifty participants from more than 20 countries attended three days of scientific meetings, workshops, plenary sessions and symposiums.

The topic for this EPA-WPA joint session was ethical dilemmas in mental health care for refugees. The session looked at lessons learned from the mental health of the civilian population – one of the most critical consequences of war – with a focus on the psychiatric care of war-affected persons from Ukraine -, The Physician´s Pledge (World Medical Association Declaration of Geneva) and its ethical consequences for mental health care.

The speakers at this very inspiring symposium were Jana Javakhishvili (Georgia), Meryam Schouler-Ocak (Germany), Lela Tsiskarishvili (Georgia), George Bakanidze (Germany), and Rutger van der Gaag (Netherlands; prerecorded presentation).