Good Examples Of Psychiatric Care To Be Discussed On Iceland

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 01 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Mental health and ill-health are hard to assess. Treatment, rehabilitation or training calls for evidence supported by research, but there are no simple formulas for measures based on good scientific evidence.

-- However, many people, not least politicians, believe that a consensus and a scientific model exists among researchers about what has scientific support, says Associate Professor Lars Fredén who is head of the Nordic Research Academy in Mental Health.

The aim of the conference that is to be held on Iceland, New Perspectives Best Mental Health Practices, is to illustrate good examples.

The conference is being held in Akureyri on Iceland from 6th to 8th May 2009. Politicians, officials, representatives of users and researchers from all the Nordic countries will be discussing good examples of social support, mental health care and rehabilitation of people with mental ill-health.

-- We have to look at what those who have had contact with the mental health care system consider to be important in terms of restoring good health, says Lars Fredén who is one of the organisers of the conference that is being arranged by the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues (NVC), Nordic School of Public Health (NHV), and Gedjalp, Iceland with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers.

-- The conference in Akureyri will assemble delegates from a range of fields, with a variety of backgrounds, says Geðhjálp's chairman Sigursteinn Másson.

Contrasting ideas open up possibilities for change and improvement.

-- I feel that this meeting will be very stimulating, says Sigursteinn Másson and adds: We all know what doesn't work when it comes to mental ill-health care. Now we have the chance to discuss what works best in the Nordic countries and to go on to make advances, he says.

The relationship with the therapist is important

The Norwegian Professor of Psychology Tor-Johan Ekeland feels that specific methods explain very little about the difference between forms of therapy. The research shows that the relationship between the therapist and the patient is of greater importance. It implies that there is no scientific evidence for making the claim that the best treatment is achieved through special methods.

-- Preventive inputs are the most important, says Kristian Wahlbeck, Research Professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland.

Mental health can be promoted through early interventions in children and young people. Depression can be prevented at school and at work. Suicide can be prevented. Mental health work includes all sectors of society.

The Icelandic authorities will attend a pre-conference meeting with some of the researchers to discuss what happens when a country enters a deep recession.

Child Psychologist and Professor Tytti Solantaus studied the consequences in Finland in the 1990s and found that economic problems in the family impair children's mental health. Methods of bringing up children became stricter during the recession, leading to a negative impact on their well-being.

Nordic School of Public Health
http://www.nhv.se

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