Global Community of Psychiatry: Part 1-View Presentation

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In this informative session, three seasoned professionals in psychiatry shared their insights on diverse topics related to mental health practice and geopolitical influences on health. The session was chaired by Dinesh Bhugra, past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the World Psychiatric Association.<br /><br />The first speaker, Professor Johannes Vanchetta from Vienna, focused on comorbidity between mental and physical diseases. He highlighted high prevalence rates of mental disorders in physical hospital departments and emphasized the importance of integrated service planning. Vanchetta advocated for psychiatrists and medical specialists to learn to treat common mental disorders and opposed the creation of a separate specialty for psychosomatic issues. Additionally, he discussed challenges such as increasing rates of mental disorders and the shortage of psychiatrists.<br /><br />Robert Benaventura, president of the Philippine Psychiatric Society, addressed the impact of COVID-19 on mental health services in the Philippines. He detailed innovative responses such as leveraging tele-psychiatry and incorporating training for non-psychiatric health providers through WHO's MHGAP program. Benaventura emphasized the importance of community-based mental health approaches and highlighted challenges such as resource limitations and geographic barriers.<br /><br />Finally, Dinesh Bhugra explored geopolitical determinants of mental health. He discussed how political, commercial, geographical, and cultural factors influence mental health services and outcomes. Bhugra stressed the importance of integrating mental health considerations into broader health and social policies and proposed that political decisions significantly affect mental health directly and indirectly.<br /><br />The session provided a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and strategic approaches in global mental health practice and policy advocacy.

Keywords

psychiatry

mental health

geopolitical influences

Dinesh Bhugra

comorbidity

integrated service planning

tele-psychiatry

MHGAP program

community-based approaches

geopolitical determinants

policy advocacy

global mental health