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DGPPN Congress 2009 – English Programme
Welcome Address
ÖGPP – Austrian Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Michael Musalek
90
Mental illnesses are not rigid structures that only continue to exist simply because they once
came into existence; in fact they involve processes the continued existence of which is explained
by the action of multiple illness­conserving factors. Along with physical circumstances
and the inherent momentum of the pathological process, it is also, above all, influences
from the psychosocial area which co­determine the plasticity of mental illnesses. At
the same time a special role is granted to each particular age and to the main topics and
focus in life linked with it. Treatment which is not exclusively oriented towards illness constructs
but rather towards the sufferer will thus quite significantly take into account the life
period in which the mentally ill find themselves and the problems which develop in connection
with it.
Moreover, it is universally known nowadays that, in the middle life stages, highly effective
psychopharmacological measures cannot be transferred in type and dose directly to people
of other ages, such as adolescents or older age groups. Last but not least, however, it is also
the individual’s varying resources during different periods of life which quite significantly
determine the course of the illness and the success of the treatment. Accordingly, a psychiatry,
which again places the human being at the centre of its diagnosis and therapy and
which is not reduced to conventional indication medicine with its main focus on illness constructs,
will also primarily take into account in its treatment planning the life stage which the
patient is in at present and the problems and opportunities for further development that are
linked to it.
Such human­based psychiatry will also not be able to refer exclusively to evidence­based
medical data – no matter how essential this remains as the foundation stone of rational therapy
design – but will also have to include in its remedies knowledge which extends beyond
medicine and psychiatry in the narrower sense. The resulting complexity of psychiatric action
will also be the focus of the next congress of the ÖGPP, the Austrian Association for
Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie)
under the heading The Art of Treatment in Psychiatry, which will be held in Gmunden
from 22 to 24 April 2010 and you are cordially invited to attend. At this point, it is a
pleasant duty to thank those responsible at the DGPPN for the excellent cooperation which
we have enjoyed in recent years, and also above all for having dedicated this year’s DGPPN
congress to the very important area of mental illnesses through the lifespan. In particular,
this will also bring about and promote the further development of a psychiatry which once
again centers on the whole person a human­based psy chiatry which extends beyond medical
conditions and clinical pictures and where the human again be comes the measure of all
things.
With my best wishes for fruitful discussions and pleasurable encounters at this year’s
DGPPN congress in Berlin.
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Michael Musalek
President of the Austrian Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (ÖGPP)