Director: Thomas Gargot
Co-Director: Jesper Nørgaard Kjær

The methodology of scientific method can be sometimes difficult to understand and implement in psychiatry. Different tools exist to help this process by collecting and interpreting data. Here we will present open source softwares that help to communicate but also randomize, collect, interpret and publish data. These tools can be easily reused and shared. That could improve validity and reproducibility of scientific research. In order to be interactive, we will involve the participants in the collection of the data of a prototypical scientific study, an international cake testing database! (http://bit.ly/cakereport)

We will see a study protocol and how we can pregister this protocol defining the primary outcome. Here what is the best cookie from 2 different brands? We will discuss the issue of sample selection. 

Who will taste the cookies?

Randomizer.org will help us to attribute a condition (cookie A or B) to each subject. Limesurvey helps to run easy online surveys. 

What did you think about each characteristic of your cookie?

R helps to analyse and plot the data. 

How to plot the results? Is the difference significant? 

GitHub helps to publish publicly or not our data and analysis script. ArXiv systems helps to publish early works and manuscripts before publication.

We can promote our work then on Wikipedia and discuss what are the advantages and issues to promote your own work on Wikipedia.

Director: Takahiro Kato
Co-Director: Umberto Volpe

The constant growth of digital technology has been paralleled by the rise of many reported digital addictions, some associated with new psychopathologies including pathological social withdrawal and modern type depression (MTD). Hikikomori has been defined as a condition that mainly affects adolescents or young adults who live isolated from the world, cloistered within their parents’ homes, locked in their rooms for months or years, and refusing to communicate even with their family. Once described in Japan only, Hikikomori has been repeatedly reported to be spreading abroad due to globalization and internet society. 

The present course will provide the audience with practical and theoretical knowledge about hikikomori/MTD over the following three main areas: 1) how to detect and assess hikikomori/MTD in clinical practice, based on the proposed international diagnostic criteria; 2) psychopathological features of Hikikomori/MTD in the European context, discussing the similarity and differences between Asian and European cases; 3) introducing bio-psycho-social intervention and novel therapeutic approach using digital tools such as communication robots and metaverse (avatar).

Director: Hala Kerbage

This course aims to provide mental health professionals with the latest knowledge and practical strategies for addressing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pediatric and adolescent populations while integrating a resilience-oriented and competence-based approach to trauma. Participants will gain insight into the epidemiology, risk and protective factors, diagnosis, and evidence-based treatments for PTSD and complex PTSD across developmental stages. They will acquire skills to effectively manage PTSD in their clinical practice and promote resilient environments and supportive families. Practical exercises, such as case studies and role-playing, will be used to implement treatment approaches. Additionally, trauma-informed care principles and resilience-building strategies will be discussed interactively.

The course will also provide a brief overview of prevention and early intervention approaches for PTSD, cultural and social considerations in the clinical management of PTSD, and PTSD related to war and forced displacement.

Director: Andrew Brittlebank

Co-Director: Krzysztof Krysta

By the time of the Congress, the pilot of the European Board Examination in Psychiatry will have been held and will be undergoing evaluation. It is planned that once the lessons from this pilot have been assimilated, the examination will be held annualy. Following the experience of other European Board examinations, there will be considerable interest in the examination from trainees nearing the end of training, from early career psychiatrists, trainers looking to prepare their trainees for the exam and established psychiatrists who are considering becoming examiners.

In this educational course, participants will be introduced to the theory behind the assessment of professional competence and will cover the concepts of reliability, validity, educational impact, cost-effectiveness and acceptibility as they apply to written assessments. We will introduce the Psychiatry Exam Curriculum, Syllabus and its blueprint. There will be opportunities to interactively engage with this material.

The course will explore different types of questions and consider the characteristics of highly effective machine markable questions. Participants will be supported to write different types of examination items.

Director: Kris Goethals
Co-Director: Kolja Schiltz

The course will provide the knowledge and research results about the risk of psychiatric patients of becoming violent and of becoming offenders with violent crimes. It will focus on the indicators of risk for violence and delinquency but also on the indicators of immediate threat and imminent aggression on wards and in outpatient settings.

It will teach on how to develop a structure in the assessment and to come to a professional judgment on the severity and on the imminence of risk. It will also teach on risk formulation and risk communication among staff and outside of the clinicians’ surroundings (relatives, police, courts, caretakers).It will address risk management, when to intervene and how, the methods of prevention and the long term guidance of risky patients.

Director: Merete Nordentoft
Co-Director: Tina Iversen

There is strong scientific evidence for the effectiveness involving families in treatment of schizophrenia and related disorders and for early intervention services in first episode psychosis. In this course, the evidence for Early Intervention Services will be presented together with the principles and rationale for involving families.

The format of psychoeducational multifamily groups will be explained in detail. Participants will be involved actively with polls, and participants will train the problem solving live. We have very good experiences with this format.

Director: Sandra Kooij
Co-Director: Toni Ramos-Quiroga

ADHD is not outgrown in the majority of children with the disorder. It is an often inherited childhood onset condition that continues during the lifespan and is associated with a lot of comorbidities in the mental and physical domain, as well as with many impairments. In this interactive course, the epidemiology, prevalence, neurobiological background, assessment and treatment of this complex disorder in both women and men will be discussed by experienced researchers and clinicians.

Director: Frauke Schultze-Lutter
Co-Director: Andrea Raballo

Basic symptoms (BS) are subtle, self-experienced disturbances in mental processes and central components of the psychopathology of psychoses. A subset of cognitive BS (i.e. “Cognitive Disturbances”, COGDIS) was associated with higher transition rates to psychosis than the ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria over follow-ups of three years or longer. Recommendations for the early detection of psychosis therefore emphasize the clinical utility of COGDIS. Yet, reliably identifying BS requires specific psychopathological competence.

Therefore, this course, an integral part of the educational framework of the EPA Section for Prevention of Mental Disorders, is designed as a clinically oriented implementation of the EPA Guidance project on the early detection of clinical high-risk of psychosis.
The course is intended for a broad, interprofessional audience across the career continuum in all care settings (i.e. children and adolescent, and adult psychiatry and psychology) interested in the early detection of psychosis. It is also intended for neuroscientists and research-oriented clinicians interested in the neurobiological correlates of psychoses and their clinical high-risk states.

Director: Istvan Bitter
Co-Director: Matej Stuhec

We plan to have an intarctive format of the course, however instead of splitting different topics between the two speakers we break down the course in subtopics, which both of us will address and discuss with the inclusion of the participants.

Part I. Pharmacology
– Clinically relevant information on neurotransmitters
– Different formulations of AP
– How to define the appropriate dose of an AP for a patient?
– Benefits of therapeutic (plasma level) drug monitoring

Part II. Efficacy and effectiveness of AP
– How do patients, family members, and health care team members define efficacy?
– Pharmacological treatment of positive and negative symptoms including agitation and suicidal behavior of schizophrenia
– Acute and maintenance treatment in schizophrenia
– Response, remission and treatment resistance

Part III. Safety and tolerabillity of AP
– Preventions and management of the most common side effects and drug-drug interactions during AP treatment

Part IV. Prescribing and deprescribing AP and other medications
– AP treatment: monotherapy; combining or switching antipsychotics for nonresponse. Clozapine treatment.
– What is the duration of AP treatment in schizophrenia?
– How to discontinue/deprescribe AP treatment?

Director: Antoni Gual
Co-Director: Pilar Lusilla

Motivational interviewing is defined as a patient-centered and collaborative approach that guides people to initiate and maintain a strategy of behaviour change through the resolution of their ambivalence. This approach has become the golden standard to manage addictions as opposed to classic confrontational models. Different meta-analysis, have demonstrated its moderate but robust effect in improving both adherence to treatment and addictive behaviours.

Brief interventions have proven its efficacy to help patients reduce their drug use, specially concerning alcohol and tobacco. Motivational adaptations of those brief counselling interventions have been developed and tested inrecent years. In this course, attendees will receive training on how to use brief motivational interventions (BMI) with patients suffering addictive disorders in the Emergency Room.

Director: Nikolina Jovanovic
Co-Director: Evangelia Chrysikou

Psychiatric hospitals are frequently poorly designed, leading to issues like violence, patient frustration, and staff burnout. However, good hospital design has the potential to foster positive patient-staff interactions and enhance feelings of control and safety. This course was created to help attendees develop cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge so that they can actively participate in projects related to the renovation and construction of hospitals.

The course will be interactive and organised in two parts. The first part will explore the impact of hospital built environment on patients and staff. The concepts of therapeutic environment and co-production will be discussed. Next, participants will be trained how to assess the quality of hospital environment. The second part will focus on the key steps in renovating or building hospitals. Attendees will be invited to bring problems and photos of their wards/hospitals. The raised issues will be discussed and solutions proposed. Furthermore, attendees will be divided into small groups to discuss how to improve ‘communal ward areas,’ ‘nursing stations,’ and ‘patient bedrooms.’

Director: Andrea Fiorillo
Co-Director: Sophia Frangou

Scientific research is essential in improving care of patients with mental health problems. European Psychiatry is the official journal of the European Psychiatric Association and is published since 1986 with the aim to improve the lives of patients with psychiatric disorders and to promote professional excellence through education and research. The course will provide essential information on how to write and successfully publish a paper in European Psychiatry.

The teachers of the course are the two editors of the journal who will actively interact with participants in order to improve their writing skills. In particular, during the course, participants will be invited to discuss their experience with scientific journals and will be provided with practical suggestions on how to write good papers. Participants will be guided through the journey of publication from the hypothesis-based approach to Editor’s expectations until acceptance of manuscripts.

Director: Joseph Ventura

The aim of this interactive course is to train participants through the presentation of didactic material and live demonstration, in conducting a brief, interview-based assessment of cognitive functioning using the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI). The CAI was designed for use in routine clinical settings or as a co-primary measure in clinical trials to obtain baseline severity levels of cognitive deficits, determine their impact on daily functioning, and to screen and assess change in cognitive functioning over time. Course methods and materials will involve small group discussion; power point slides; use of the CAI Manual and CAI Rating Form; video-taped interviews of actual patients being assessed with the CAI. The course content will involve: 

1) a review cognitive deficits such as problems with working memory, reasoning and problem-solving in psychotic disorders

2) a review of the functional impact of cognitive deficits

3) interactive training in the use of the CAI using video-taped interviews and discussion compared to consensus ratings and 

4) how the CAI can be used in screening of cognitive functioning, treatment planning, and the ongoing assessment of change in cognition.

Director: Jan Wise
Co-Director: Cecile Hanon

In medicine ethics are based on the Hippocratic oath, as expressed in the Declaration of Geneva (2006). Two moral principles in this medical oath are crucial: the autonomy of the patient and beneficence. In clinical practice, medical doctors struggle, on daily basis, with dilemmas around these themes. What to do, if there are realistic medical treatments but the patient opposes or cannot express his will? This holds especially true in cases of suicidality.

In cases of cancer, few will doubt that the doctor should abide by the patient’s wishes, but in psychiatry the doctor will struggle with if the psychiatric condition hinders the patient’s ability to express their free will. How do we balance autonomy with best interests in light of the UN Convention of the Rights of People with Disability (CRPD), and what role for those with lived experience? In the light of recent legislative evolution in several European countries, how do we balance the wishes of the individual with societal values when considering physician assisted dying? Whilst each countries culture and legislation is unique, those themes remain universal. They will be expanded and discussed in small groups around specific cases.

Director: Thomas Desmidt
Co-Director: Pierre Lavaud

The session aims to enhance psychiatrists’ understanding of the specificities and complexities of bipolar disorder in the elderly. The session will be organized into several thematic parts:
1. Introduction and Overview
2. Theoretical Foundations

Clinical Specificities: Discuss unique characteristics, including subtle manic symptoms and severe depressive episodes.
Differential Diagnosis: Explore challenges in differentiating bipolar disorder from dementia and depression due to chronic illnesses.
Comorbidity Management: Address how medical comorbidities influence clinical presentation and treatment.

3. Interactive Case Studies

Case Study Discussions: Present real-life cases for diagnosis and treatment plan development.

4. Treatment Approaches

Medication Management: Discuss mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, emphasizing caution and monitoring.
Non-Pharmacological Approaches: Explore psychotherapy, family support.

5. Role-Playing Exercises

Scenario-Based Role-Playing: Practice diagnosing and managing bipolar disorder with role-playing exercises.
Feedback and Discussion: Provide feedback and highlight key learning points.

6. Evaluation and Closing 

Director: Lionel Cailhol
Co-Director: Remy Klein

This course is dedicated to advancing the treatment of comorbidities among individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Through a comprehensive exploration of psychiatric, personality, and physical health comorbidities, participants will gain practical insights and evidence-based strategies to optimize patient care and outcomes. Designed for healthcare professionals, this course emphasizes the unique challenges and opportunities associated with treating BPD and its comorbid conditions in clinical practice.

PLAN

Introduction- definition, outlines its diagnostic criteria (differential diagnosis vs comorbidity), theory (ie: p factor)

Part I: Comorbidity in BPD – description of psychiatric, personality, and physical health comorbidities.

Part II: Impact of Comorbidities on BPD – psychosocial implications, mortality, clinical progression, and neuropsychological and psychopharmacological aspects of comorbidities.

Part III: Treatment Strategies for BPD with Comorbid Conditions – general principles and tools, treatment hierarchies and strategies, and psychopharmacology for comorbidities.