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WELCOME ADDRESS
WELCOME
ADDRESS
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the German Association for Psy-
chiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
(DGPPN) I would like to welcome you to the
DGPPN Congress 2016.
Over the next four days I would like you to
join me in taking a comprehensive look at the
position of the field of psychiatry and psycho-
therapy under the umbrella of the congress
theme “Mind – Person – Society”. This stock-
taking is important because our medical field
has to continually react to societal, social and
political developments like no other. Changing
living conditions not only create new risk fac-
tors and affect the course of mental illnesses
but also have a direct impact on the percep-
tion and acceptance of mentally ill people in
the population.
Thus, in view of the growing need for assis-
tance there are pressing questions about the
fair distribution of resources in the health
care sector. In the current legislative period
the Federal Government has launched a series
of health-policy laws that will have very spe-
cific effects on patients and the everyday life
of the occupational groups involved in patient
care. The discussion about suitable psychiat-
ric-psychotherapeutic treatment offerings for
the growing number of refugees and migrants
is also especially topical. At the same time,
the working world is changing at a rapid pace
and is being increasingly penetrated by digital
technologies. New implications for care also
result from current findings in science and
care.
The DGPPN Congress 2016 will address these
complex interactions and examine the ques-
tion of where the field of psychiatry and psy-
chotherapy stands today. What obstacles do
mentally ill people currently face in the con-
text of care? To what extent are mental disor-
ders accepted by society? What impulses can
we expect from research? What is the situa-
tion with regard to young professionals? You
can look forward to renowned keynote speak-
ers from Germany and abroad, interdisciplin-
ary symposia, interactive discussion forums
and fascinating accompanying events which
deal intensively with these complex topics and
examine them from different perspectives.