Artificial Intelligence can help improve mental health care and find the most suitable drug and dose for the individual patient, while decreasing side effects. At the same time, today we are starting to invest again in research for diseases such as depression and schizophrenia. Mental health was tackled 45 years after the Basaglia law which opened the doors of mental hospitals at the meeting “Active Principles”, the first of a cycle of events on the subject promoted by Boehringer Ingelheim Italy in Rome.
“In the world, 1,600 drugs and many digital therapies for mental health are being developed, data that show the commitment of the pharmaceutical industry’s research in this area”, explains Carlo Riccini, director of the Farmindustria Study Center.
“What is aimed at is a personalized psychiatry, that is tailored to the person, as is happening, for example, in the treatment of tumors where the aim is increasingly towards precision oncology – explains Giulio Corrivetti, vice president of the Italian Society of Psychiatry to ANSA – In the same way, digital therapies can be an excellent support to encourage adherence to doctor’s prescriptions in psychiatric patients”.
45 years later, few are now aware of the Basaglia law, “a law which, due to its innovativeness”, underlines Senator Sandra Zampa (Pd), “has no equal but requires a change, still underway, so that we arrive at give the right answers to the needs of patients and families”. The Basaglia Law, in 1978, restored dignity and rights to people with mental frailties “but there are still many challenges to face – adds Morena Sangiovanni, president of Boehringer Ingelheim Italia – from offering a real take charge of the territory to the possibility of offering effective therapies to those in need”.
“Health care must consider the person in his entirety – concludes Maurizio Lupi, member of the Justice Commission of the Chamber -. For years we have concentrated on physical illness, leaving out everything that concerns the sphere of mental health. The third sector, at this moment , it is important but it is not enough and we are called to work to bridge this gap”.
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