On the first day of the EFPT conference, Prof. Dr. Niels Mulder will open the congress. He is the chair of the Dutch Association of Psychiatry, which focuses on advocacy of psychiatrists in the Netherlands, quality of care, science, education, and training. In addition, he is a professor of Public Mental Health at Erasmus MC, working as a researcher and also as a psychiatrist in the acute psychiatry department of the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute. He will shed light on the challenges currently impacting mental health care in the Netherlands during his opening speech.
Geert Dom is Professor of psychiatry at the University of Antwerp and Medical Director of the psychiatric center Multiversum, Boechout, Belgium. With teaching interest and research focus on addiction psychiatry and public mental health, Prof. Dom is the Past President of the European Federation of Addiction Societies (EUFAS), the Flemish Association of Psychiatry and of the Belgian Professional Association of Medical Specialists in Psychiatry. He is currently the president of the European Psychiatric Association.
Associate Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust. Past president of the UEMS Section of Psychiatry. Experienced Director Of Education with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. Skilled in Crisis Intervention, Clinical Supervision, Prevention, Psychological Assessment, and Interventions. Strong education professional with a MA focused in Management and Leadership from University of Leeds.
Dr John Francis Leader (JFL) focuses on mental health and the role of digitalisation across policy, practice, research and advocacy. Elected to the Board of Directors of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) JFL is Liaison for European Mental Health and is an appointee to the European Commission’s Health Technology Assessment Stakeholder Network and to the WHO Pan-European Mental Health Coalition. From Dublin, Ireland, JFL is an elected Council Member and Honorary Secretary of the Psychological Society of Ireland and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at University College Dublin.
Sanneke de Haan is Socrates Professor of Psychiatry and Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Assistant Professor Clinical Bioethics at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. She works on topics at the intersection of philosophy and psychiatry, such as questions of ab/normality, the nature of psychiatric disorders, and self-illness ambiguity. In her book Enactive Psychiatry (2020 CUP) she develops a complex system’s approach to integrate the physiological, experiential, socio-cultural, and existential dimensions of psychiatric disorders. Here is the abstract of her presentation :
Is it me or my disorder? Self-illness ambiguity in the context of mental illness
“Psychiatric disorders concern your experiences: your feelings, thoughts, perceptions and/or actions. Psychotropic drugs affect your experiences too. How then can you tell if, or to what extent, your experiences are coloured by your disorder and/or the medication you are taking? As Karp (2006) put it: ‘‘If I experience X, is it because of the illness, the medication, or is it ‘just me’?’. Such so-called self-illness and self-medication ambiguities are common in psychiatry. In this talk, I (i) introduce empirical and philosophical research on the relation between self and illness, (ii) present a critique on and refinement of the notion self-illness ambiguity, and (iii) offer some points of discussion regarding the relation between being yourself and a psychiatric diagnosis.”
Dr. Linda Ackermans is a neurosurgeon at Maastricht University Medical Centre with a focus on neuropsychiatry and neuroncology. She earned her PhD with a focus on Deep Brain Stimulation in Tourette’s Syndrome. Her lecture will be about DBS in psychiatry.
Drs Paulan Stärcke is a psychiatrist who has worked until her formal retirement (2018) as a “social psychiatrist” at an institute for mental health care in the Netherlands (GGZ inGeest), for outpatients and partly also for inpatient care. Since 2014 she has been parttime working for the “end of life clinic” (rechristened “expertise-center euthanasia” in 2020), which is now her main area of expertise. She also works as “SCEN-arts”, which is a function related to the legal process of euthanasia in the Netherlands (obligatory consultation).
Paola Smit is a licensed psychologist (GZ-psycholoog) with extensive experience as both a therapist and university teacher in specialized mental health care. She has worked in gender-affirming care at the Expertise Centre for Gender and Sex (REGG) at Radboudumc in Nijmegen, an academic medical center. Alongside her clinical work, she teaches at the university level and is dedicated to promoting inclusive, evidence-based mental health care, with a particular focus on supporting transgender individuals. Here is the abstract of her presentation :
Towards Inclusive Care: Gender Dysphoria in Mental Health
“Many mental health professionals experience uncertainty when working with transgender individuals and often refer them to specialized teams. This interactive presentation provides practical tools and insights to help you feel more confident and competent in supporting this population. Expand your knowledge, strengthen your skills, and contribute to the inclusive, respectful care that all individuals deserve.“