This year’s meeting of the Swiss Society for Anxiety & Depression SGAD is themed “Treatment of Anxiety and Depression: Expectations and Perspectives”. The organizer is particularly excited about the event kicking off with a talk entitled “America on the Couch: Trump isn’t crazy, we are” by Allen James Frances. Prof. Dr. med. Erich Seifritz explains the top topics of the event in an interview and reveals what visitors can expect.
Professor Seifritz, on April 12, the 9th Swiss Forum For Mood and Anxiety Disorders will take place in Zurich. Why did the organizer, SGAD, choose the main topic: “Treatment of anxiety and depression: expectations and perspectives”?
Professor Dr. Seifritz:
Placebo and nocebo effects play a major role in everyday clinical practice, since they influence the outcome of every therapy. It is not only the active substance that plays a decisive role. In fact, it is now believed that the treatment environment, patient personality, and genetic variations also have a significant influence on these effects. Every treatment triggers complex processes that are also rooted in the patient’s cognitive/affective status and in the doctor-patient relationship. These factors can be used specifically in everyday clinical practice.
One mechanism of the placebo and nocebo effect is expectancy. The effect of the therapy expected by the patient significantly influences the response to a particular substance. The patient does not have to have been treated with the active substance beforehand in order to develop an expectation with regard to the therapy. This topic will be discussed in depth at our symposium.
We will also discuss the perspectives of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment. In the field of psychotherapy, mindfulness therapy is the newcomer. There are also exciting new strategies in drug therapy. In addition, current treatment recommendations for depression in the elderly will be presented.
Speaking of expectations, what do you think we can expect from the Key Note Session with Allen Frances?
Allen Frances is well known in our circles for his involvement in the development of the DSM-4 diagnostic criteria and for his opposition to their updating in the DSM-5 version. In his book Normal, Allen Frances warns against the “inflation of diagnoses” in psychiatry and its consequences: Everyday moods and feelings are being labeled as illnesses in need of treatment.
At our symposium, however, we also get to enjoy a much more popular topic. Indeed, Allen Frances posits that it is not “Trump who is crazy, it is us” (Americans). This will be very exciting and to answer your question: We can expect a lot.
They themselves will talk about new treatment strategies. What has happened in this area?
An important issue here is how to personalize guideline-compliant treatment. In addition, two very recent studies are presented that dispel the myth that antidepressants do not work.
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Thursday, April 12, 2018, Program and registration: |
