Basic symptoms (BS) are subtle, self-experienced disturbances in mental processes and central components of the psychopathology of psychoses. A subset of cognitive BS (i.e. Cognitive Disturbances, COGDIS) was associated with higher transition rates to psychosis than the ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria over follow-ups of three years or longer . Recommendations for the early detection of psychosis therefore emphasize the clinical utility of COGDIS.

Yet, reliably identifying BS requires specific psychopathological competence. COGDIS has also been associated with a brain signature based on structural MRI data that could also identify schizophrenia patients; this further supporting its usefulness for the detection of a high risk for psychosis.

Therefore, this course, an integral part of the educational framework of the EPA Section for Prevention of Mental Disorders, is designed as a clinically oriented implementation of the EPA Guidance project on the early detection of clinical high-risk of psychosis.

The course is intended for a broad, interprofessional audience across the career continuum in all care settings (i.e. children and adolescent, and adult psychiatry and psychology) interested in the early detection of psychosis. It is also intended for neuroscientists and research-oriented clinicians interested in the neurobiological correlates of psychoses and their clinical high-risk states.

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) share significant clinical overlap, particularly in domains of emotion dysregulation, interpersonal instability, and self-identity disturbance. However, important differences exist in their aetiologies, trajectories, and treatment approaches. Misdiagnosis or conflation of these two conditions can lead to suboptimal care, especially in adolescents and young adults where early intervention is crucial.

This course aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenology, neurobiological underpinnings, developmental and clinical aspects, as well as  evidence-based therapeutic strategies for C-PTSD and BPD. The session will highlight current diagnostic challenges, review recent research findings, and offer clinical tools for differential diagnosis and personalized treatment planning across developmental stages.

Interactive clinical vignettes will illustrate key distinctions and therapeutic decision points. Attendees will gain practical insights into trauma-informed care models, including the integration of stabilization techniques, psychotherapeutic modalities (e.g., DBT, EMDR, TF-CBT), and the management of comorbidities.

The widespread adoption of digital technologies is changing the way people communicate, work and access information. This landscape is shaping and building new forms of social interaction and identity with variable effects on mental health and wellbeing.

The emphasis on personal autonomy and self-expression is becoming more pronounced, as individuals seek to assert their identity and differentiate themselves from others in a rapidly changing and fragmented world.

Whereas technology is developing disproportionately, new psychopathological expressions are emerging, mostly technology/digitally-driven and not fully explained by classical psychopathology, particularly among young digitarians.

Innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches propose the integration of advanced digital solutions (e.g., digital phenotyping, robotics, metaverse, AI etc.).

The course will address the complex interplay between technology and mental health in the modern world. The course will discuss the new psychopathological trajectories due to the digital world, by providing a critical overview on the behavioral addictions, discussing the dilemma of new ‘digital’ addictions, the pathological threshold between problematic and culturally/socially-accepted use of new technologies and new emerging psychopathological trajectories.

Finally, a section will provide an overview on innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches such as digital tools and interventions including the potentials of AI.

Psychiatric hospitals are often poorly designed, contributing to violent incidents, lack of meaningful patient-staff interactions, and patient boredom. Growing evidence suggests that the physical environment of hospitals can support positive interactions, enhance feelings of control and safety, and improve staff efficiency. Despite this, there is limited guidance available for clinicians on how to design or repurpose hospital spaces to make them more therapeutic.

This course was developed to:

1. Raise awareness of how the built environment affects patients and staff;
2. Provide tools to assess the quality of hospital spaces; and
3. Offer guidance on how to renovate, repurpose, or design psychiatric facilities to enhance their therapeutic value.

The course will be interactive and delivered in two 90-minute sessions.

The first session will explore how the built environment impacts patients, staff, and visitors. Key concepts such as ‘therapeutic environments and salutogenesis will be introduced. Participants will also learn how to quickly evaluate the quality of ward, facility, or hospital environments.

The second session will focus on practical steps. Participants will be encouraged to bring photos, plans, or specific problems related to their own wards or hospitals for solution development. If no materials are provided, attendees will be divided into small groups to generate improvement ideas for communal ward areas, nursing stations, and patient bedrooms.

This interactive, evidence-based course is a follow-up of the previous popular course on antipsychotic treatment, organised by the Psychopharmacology Section at several past EPA Congresses. The primary target audience is early career psychiatrists, but it may be also of interest to more experienced prescribers who want to deepen their knowledge and become familiar with the latest developments in the field.

The course is divided into several topics that cover novel nomenclature of antidepressants, (NbN), their pharmacology, clinical efficacy and safety, potential drug-drug interactions, treatment in specific situations (children and adolescents, elderly), evaluation of treatment response, management of non-response.

In addition to the antidepressant drugs, other treatment interventions (herbal remedy, neurostimulation, psychedelics) will be briefly discussed.

The course will provide the knowledge and research results about the risk of psychiatric patients of becoming violent and of becoming offenders with violent crimes. It will focus on the indicators of risk for violence and delinquency but also on the indicators of immediate threat and imminent aggression on wards and in outpatient settings.

It will teach on how to develop a structure in the assessment and to come to a professional judgment on the severity and on the imminence of risk. It will also teach on risk formulation and risk communication among staff and outside of the clinicians’ surroundings (relatives, police, courts, caretakers).

It will address risk management, when to intervene and how, the methods of prevention and the long term guidance of risky patients.

The aim of this interactive course is to train participants through the presentation of didactic material and live demonstration, in conducting a brief, interview-based assessment of cognitive functioning using the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI). The CAI was designed for use in routine clinical settings or as a co-primary measure in clinical trials to obtain baseline severity levels of cognitive deficits, determine their impact on daily functioning, and to screen and assess change in cognitive functioning over time.

Course methods and materials will involve small group discussion; power point slides; use of the CAI Manual and CAI Rating Form; video-taped interviews of actual patients being assessed with the CAI.

The course content will involve:

1. a review cognitive deficits such as problems with working memory, reasoning and problem-solving, and poor attention that are commonly observed in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders;
2. a review of the functional impact of cognitive deficits;
3. interactive training in the use of the CAI using video-taped interviews and discussion of each participants ratings compared to consensus ratings; and
4. identification of how the CAI can be used in screening of cognitive functioning, treatment planning, and the ongoing assessment of change in cognition. 

Course highlights include an interactive discussion of the course participants ratings in comparison with a set of gold standard ratings.

Shared decision-making (SDM) is a collaborative process that empowers patients and healthcare providers to make informed, patient-centered care choices together. However, patients with comorbid medical and mental health conditions face unique challenges, including fragmented care, stigma, and varying treatment priorities.

This interactive course will explore practical strategies for implementing SDM in complex cases, emphasizing communication skills, interdisciplinary collaboration, and evidence-based tools to align treatment plans with patient values and clinical needs.

In addition, participants will be able to learn practical examples of SDM program implementation such  as the SELF-HELP+ (SH+) programme developed by WHO and implemented with the International Medical Corps, which focuses on strengthening individual decision-making, stress regulation, and goal setting in people with high emotional burden — often in humanitarian or complex care settings. This experience will complement the SDM approach, especially when working with dual-diagnosis populations or patients with trauma-related barriers to communication.

Throughout the course, the attendees will analyze real case examples and through role-playing, and expert insights, participants will gain the confidence and skills to navigate SDM effectively in dual-diagnosis populations

Format:
Interactive presentations, videos, case-based learning, role-playing and small-group exercises

In psychiatry the methodology of scientific method can sometimes be difficult to understand. Different tools ease the processes of collecting and interpreting data but they can be too expensive. Here we will present and review free and open source software that help to communicate, collect, interpret and publish data. These tools can be easily reused and shared. This improves validity and reproducibility of scientific research. While discussing all these challenges and in order to be interactive, we will involve the participants in the different steps of collection of the data of a prototypical scientific study, an international cake testing database!

An overview of the processes and tools:

We will evaluate a study protocol and pre-register this protocol defining the primary outcome.

• Which is the best cookie from two different brands?
• We will discuss the issue of sample selection. Who will taste the cookies?
• Randomiser will help us to attribute a condition (cookie A or B) to each subject.
• Limesurvey helps to run online surveys.
• What did you think about each characteristic of your cookie?
• R helps to analyse and plot the data.
• What is the mean score?
• How to plot the results?
• Is the difference significant?
• GitHub helps to share our data and analysis script publicly or not.
• ArXiv helps to publish early works and manuscripts before publication.
• The EQUATOR Network provides guidelines that help to write scientific articles.

Lastly, we can promote our work on Wikipedia and discuss what are the advantages and issues to promote your own work.