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DGPPN Congress 2009 – English Programme
Welcome Address
BVDP – Professional Association of German Specialists for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
BVDN – Professional Association of German Neurologists and Psychiatrists
Christa Roth-Sackenheim
Frank Bergmann
92
Esteemed Colleagues,
Once again this year you are warmly invited the BVDN, the Professional Association of
German Neurologists and Psychiatrists (Berufsverband Deutscher Nervenärzte) and the
BVDP, the Profession al Association of German Specialists for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
(Berufsverband Deutscher Fachärzte für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie) to the annual scientific
highlight our of professional group, the DGPPN Congress in Berlin.
This year is a very special year in terms of health policy. By the time you receive the invitation
programme, the starter’s gun will have been fired for the Bundestag elections and
health care will be THE crucial election topic along with the economic crisis.
By the time the congress takes place, the electoral decision will have been made. Then the
first points will be set for health policy as to whether it will go towards abolishing specialist
out­patient care, creating a primary physician system or focusing on selective contracts with
undermining of basic local out­patient care in collective agreements.
The DGPPN and professional associations are jointly speaking out against basic health policy
conditions for people with mental illnesses which revert to the care situation which existed
in the 50s and 60s of the previous century!
In our political work as professional associations we will jointly continue to ask the question:
What is mental health worth to society? What is still left over 30 years later of the high targets
set by the Psychiatry Enquête 1975, an investigation into the situation of psychiatry in
the Federal Republic of Germany? Have the objectives of care in the community not already
been undermined if the response to decreasing periods of hospitalisation is high readmission
rates? Is local out­patient care adequate and target­oriented given the high significance
of mental health problems in terms of healthcare economics and, above all, is it as sured in
the long term?
What answers can we as neurologists and specialists for psychiatry and psychotherapy give
to a society in which mental illnesses are the most frequent reason for early retirement (in
both men AND women) and which account for the highest rise in industrial accident diagnoses
among young employees?
People with mental health problems continue to be entitled to the best possible care in just
the same way as people with “purely somatic” illnesses: a care which is specific to their
case, individually tailored to their biography and their psychosocial context as well as being
state­of­the­art both medically and psychotherapeutically. Lack of knowledge and prejudice
still define the basic conditions for the care of people with mental health disorders in our
health system.
This year the BVDP, the Professional Association of German Specialists for Psychiatry and
Psychotherapy (Berufsverband Deutscher Fachärzte für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie) is
also celebrating its 10th anniversary and would like to extend a very warm invitation to its
anniversary celebrations which will take place during the congress.
So, come to Berlin in large numbers and take part in the fascinating scientific development
of our medical profession – psychiatry and psychotherapy. Being or becoming a psychiatrist
or a psychotherapist brings us pleasure as doctors and provides us with inspiration and job
satisfaction!
Kind regards
Dr. Christa Roth­Sackenheim
Professional Association of German Specialists for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (BVDP)
Dr. Frank Bergmann
Professional Association of German Neurologists and Psychiatrists (BVDN)