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Social Psychiatry, Spirituality and Society- Eliot Sorel

SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY, SPIRITUALITY AND  SOCIETY

 

THE FIRST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN

SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRY CONGRESS

 

Gura Humorului, Bucovina, Romania

5-8 July 2009

 

 Eliot Sorel*

 

         

Social and Community Psychiatry is one of the essential components of a comprehensive health system at national, regional and local levels of any country.

Social psychiatry is the science of Anthropos,humankind. It is systemic and contextual in orientation and humanistic in tradition. It systemically addresses individuals, families, communities and cultural contexts while systematically integrating health promotion and protection, illness prevention and care with exquisite attention paid to biological, genetic, psychological and behavioral aspects of wellness and dysfunction, across the life cycle. It is mindful of the dynamic tension/equilibrium between individuals and families, families and communities, as well as the impact of health across sectors and viceversa.(1)

The first Central & Southeast Regional Congress of Social & Community Psychiatry organized by the Romanian Association for Social Psychiatry in collaboration with the Romanian Psychiatric Association and the World Association of Social Psychiatry in Gura Humorului, Bucovina, 5-8 July 2009 was a smashing success.

The Congress aptly illustrated the above described elements of social and community psychiatry through excellent scientific presentation of Romanian colleagues from throughout the country as well visiting and participating colleagues from eleven other countries, including Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

A few of the outstanding scientific contributions are highlighted in this issue of the Romanian Journal of Psychiatry. They include, among others, Prof. Julian Leff’s “From the psychiatric hospital to community services: A fifty years perspective”, Joan Raphael-Leff’s “Gender and generativity”,

Vikram Patel’s “Task shifting: a strategy for scaling up mental health care in developing countries”, Shridhar Sharma “Yoga, spirituality and mental health”, and Harry Minas “The International Observatory of Mental Health Systems”.

Sincere and warmest congratulations to the Families’ and Users’ Organization who met during this congress, to Professor Dan Prelipceanu and the APR Board who also met at this Congress, Drs. Alexandru and Petronela Paziuc and ARPS, Professor Driss  Moussaoui and the World Association for Social Psychiatry for a historic and catalytic congress.

We hope the stimulating, solid scientific presentations and the robust dialogue of the Bucovina Congress will bode well for the further development of social and community psychiatry, as an essential, sine qua non element of a comprehensive health system, in Romania, Central and Southeast Europe and be of benefit to users, their families, professionals, and society alike.

 

 

 

References

1. Sorel E. Social Psychiatry: A mission and a vision for the 21^st century. International Medical Journal 1998; 5(4): 247-249.