Mental health conference. The Italian Society of Psychiatry does not participate and is controversial

The reasons for the renunciation to participate communicated today by the president Massimo di Giannantonio: “I do not agree with the self-referential method of choosing the topics that have been ‘transplanted’ from the technical table into the program without comparison or discussion. I do not agree with the decision to prevent the participation of the National Coordination of the Directors of the Departments of Mental Health, nor the decision not to involve the world of research and the Ministry of University and Research “

25 JUNE – Exclusion of the DSM Coordination, which represents 75% of the Italian mental health Departments, no involvement in the choice of program themes, no inclusion of the Ministry of University and Research, today more essential than ever because the scientific and training has shown its fundamental role during the pandemic.

These are some of the reasons that prompted the Italian Society of Psychiatry (Sip) to give up participating in the Second National Conference on Mental Health, scheduled for today and tomorrow, twenty years after the first. A lack of adhesion that weighs because it concerns the operators working on the front line every day in close relationship with the patients in the area.

“I am forced to give up both in my capacity as President of the Italian Society of Psychiatry and as a Member of the Technical Committee on Mental Health of the Ministry – he explains Massimo di Giannantonio – I do not agree with the self-referential method of choosing the topics covered by the works that have been ‘transplanted’ from the Technical Table into the Conference program, without comparison or discussion. I do not agree with the decision to prevent the participation of the National Coordination of Directors of the Departments of Mental Health, nor the decision not to involve the world of research and the Ministry of University and Research, the main guarantor and promoter of the training courses of health professionals mental. It is also surprising that a priority issue, such as the consumption of psychoactive substances, inherent in contemporary mental suffering, is totally absent from the work program ”.

The situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened: there are 850,000 people who are followed daily by the mental health departments but, according to Istat, more than three million need to be taken care of. “Still too many critical issues and people with mental disorders continue not to receive adequate answers and the result is there for all to see – continues di Giannantonio – the alarms launched several times by the WHO on the fundamental role of mental health as an essential part of recovery even in our country, they cannot remain a dead letter. We need a change of course, a concrete action plan with adequate resources, based on scientific evidence and not on ancient and outdated ideologies, with the real participation of those who face the country’s mental health problems every day in the field. Without these theoretical and organizational premises, the Conference risks being a great missed opportunity ”.

June 25, 2021
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