Challenges and perspectives in youth psychiatry

Norman Sartorius – future of youth mental health care

ESCAP 2015 Madrid keynote abstract, original presentation and TV interview

Mental health care for children and adolescents in Europe: challenges and future perspectives

Original KEYNOTE abstract and presentation by professor Norman Sartorius (Action for Mental Health, Geneva) on mental health care for children and adolescents in Europe: challenges and future perspectives, held at the ESCAP 2015 Congress in Madrid, Wednesday June 24th 2015 (W3).

Abstract

Mental health care for children and adolescents in Europe varies from country to country and from one part of the countries to another in terms of quantity and quality. This fact makes it difficult to make any specific recommendation that would be valid for all of Europe or even for all parts of any particular European country and it is therefore necessary to build the future of child and adolescent psychiatry (and of mental health promotion) as a mosaic with a variety of services and arrangements differing from each other but made harmonious by the acceptance of general ethical principles and the use of rational approaches to problems that arise.

The presentation will first discuss socioeconomic and other factors shaping the context in which child mental health care has to happen and then review modalities of care for children and adolescents as well as possible vehicles of the promotion of mental health and development. It will also refer to professional and organizational dilemmas facing child and adolescent psychiatry and problems such as that of continuity of care across age that accompany the growth of mental health care services for children and adolescents.

View or download the orginal presentation by Norman Sartorius (pdf, 19 slides).Read the Norman Sartorius interview.

Professor Norman Sartorius

Professor Norman Sartorius

Norman Sartorius: keynote speaker on policy at the ESCAP 2015 Congress

Dr Norman Sartorius MD PhD specialized in neurology and psychiatry and subsequently obtained a Masters degree and a Doctorate in psychology. He carried out clinical work and research and taught at graduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Zagreb, at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, at the University of Geneva and elsewhere.

Sartorius joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1967 and soon assumed charge of the programme of epidemiology and in social psychiatry. He was the principal investigator of several major international studies on schizophrenia, depression and health service delivery. He was responsible for the WHO’s work on the classification of mental and neurological disorders.
In 1977, he became the first director of the Division of Mental Health of WHO, a position which he held until mid-1993. In June 1993 Professor Sartorius was elected president of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and served as its President until August 1999. Subsequently he became president of the Association of European Psychiatrists (EAP) a position held until December 2001. He is the president of the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes and a member of the Geneva Prize Foundation having been its president from 2004 to 2008. Dr Sartorius holds professorial appointments at the Universities of London, Prague and Zagreb and at several other universities in the USA and China. Professor Sartorius has published more than 400 articles in scientific journals, authored or co-authored books and edited a number of others.

Read the Norman Sartorius interview.