2024

5th EPA Online Talks with Experts

The fifth European Psychiatric Association “Online Talks with Experts”, organized in collaboration between the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee and the EPA Section on Public Mental Health, took place on 1 February 2024.
The invited expert was Dr. Mariana Pinto da Costa, Chair of the EPA Section on Public Mental Health, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (King’s College London), Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Invited Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (University Porto, Portugal). The Online Talk was focused on the topic of the “Challenges and Opportunities in Public Mental Health“ and was moderated by Dr. Egor Chumakov, Co-Chair of the EPA ECP Committee, and Dr. Hanna Tu, Councillor for the EPA Section on Public Mental Health.

The topic of Public Mental Health proved to be expectedly very interesting for early career psychiatrists, with an impressive number of questions about the possibility of training in this area. Interest in the discussion continued throughout the Online Talk with over 30 participants from Europe and other parts of the world. During the Online Talk Dr. Mariana Pinto da Costa gave an overview presentation on how public mental health is currently understood, how it can be achieved, and the challenges facing professionals. Dr. Pinto da Costa also presented preliminary results of her research in this area.

Many questions were received, both in advance and during the Online Talk, which can be divided into several broad themes: treatment gap between LMIC and HIC and its impact on public mental health, accessibility of training in public mental health, impact of social media and modern digital technologies on public mental health, cultural differences, opportunities to participate in public mental health research for early career psychiatrists, and others.

We are grateful to the expert and all participants for their active contribution to the project!