Dated on November 2017 Section report to the Secretary for Section, after WPA Berlin in WPA Section on Urban Mental Health

Transcription

1 Dated on November 2017 Section report to the Secretary for Section, after WPA Berlin in WPA Section on Urban Mental Health Background Of a total world population of 8.1 billion, the urban population will rise to 5 billion by 2030, and slum dwellers will have doubled to as much as 2 billion by 2030 (UN-HABITAT, 2006). Urbanization brings with it a unique set of advantages as well as disadvantages. Urbanization initiated rapid social change, disintegration and dissolution of social relations and decreased social control, which would contribute to develop mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, drug, alcohol and tobacco use, new forms of addictions, social withdrawal and sexually risky behaviours, self-destructive behaviours as deliberate self-harm and suicide. Isolation of urban youth are sources for Hikikomori and internet addictions worldwide. In addition, both manmade and natural disasters bring catastrophic damage to the urban dwellers. Megacities are now easy and frequent targets of terrorism. After the disasters, weak social control in cities increases cases of crimes. Urbanization poses heavy burden to the poor elderly population. Isolation, financial difficulty and loss of dignity of elderly are commonplace in megacities. They are prone to physical as well as mental diseases. Scope As above, since the scope of urban mental health includes various themes, the Section will mainly work on following four sub-sections, each with a coordinator. The subsection will deal: 1. Global impact of demographic changes due to urbanization on mental health. (Key words; global epidemiology, demographic changes, immigration,) 2. Mental health of slum dwellers (Key words; conduct problem, comorbidity of mental and physical disorders, depression, and provision of care in resource constrained settings),3. Urban life style and stress related mental health (Key words; clinical problems, depression, suicide, hikikomori), 4. Impacts of terrorism and disasters on mental health in urban areas (Key words; disaster mental health, terrorism, complex disasters).

2 Revival of the section June 2015 During the WPA Regional Meeting in Osaka, Ad-Hoc Meeting on Urban Mental Health was convened by Dr Afzal Javed, Secretary for Section on 5th June 2015 at the Osaka International Convention Center. The group discussed about the scope of the Section as the section comprises a wide range issues. The group asked Naotaka Shinfuku (Japan), WPA Honorary member and former WPA Zonal Representative, to be a chairperson of the section. He accepted to act as an interim chairperson of the Section until WPA World Congress in Berlin in Soon after the ad-hoc meeting, the structure of the Section was formulated with one co-chairperson, one secretary and 5 committee members and around 20 members at large. Norman Sartorius (Switzerland) accepted to be co-chair, Takahiro Kato ( Japan) to be secretary. Committee members included Miguel Jorge (Brazil), Xudong Zhao ( China), Mazhar Malic ( Pakistan), Kua Eee Heok ( Singapore) and Lubomira Izakova ( Slovakia). The new list was sent to WPA in July 2015 and approved. Activities 2015 WPA IC Taipei,Taiwan, November At the WPA International Congress (WPA IC November 2015,Taipei Taiwan ),WPA Section on Urban Mental Health organized two Symposium and a brief ad-hoc meeting of Board Members. The first symposium on Mental Health and Vulnerability in Urbanization (November 20 th ) was co-chaired by Norman Sartorius ( Switzerland) and Michelle Riba ( United States). Speakers were Atsuro Tsutsumi (Malaysia), Helen Herrman (Australia), Pornjira Pariwatcharakul (Thailand) and Min-Soo Lee ( Korea).The titles of their presentations included 1.Mental Health in Urbanization with Perspective of Global Priorities-Slum Dwellers and Persons with disabilities in Urbanization ( Atsuro). 2. Women s mental health in Urbanization (Helen) 3. Urban Mental health in Asia: Focus on Mental Health in Migrant workers (Pornijira), 4. Bipolarization in Urban Areas: Impact on National Mental Health in Eastern Asia ( Min-Soo). The second symposium Impact of Urbanization to mental health-from Disaster to Internet Addiction and Hikikomori. Was co-chaired by Afzal Javed (Pakistan) and Naotaka Shinfuku( Japan). Speakers were Chih-Hung Ko (Taiwan), Takahiro Kato ( Japan), Chay Hoon Tan( Singapore) and Malcolm Hopwood ( Australia). The titles of their presentations were 1. The Bi-Directional Interaction Between Internet Gaming and Psychiatric Disorders (Chih-Hung), 2, Are Japan s social withdrawal youth ( Hikikkomori) spreading abroad? (Takahiro). 3. Urban Mental Health issue in Singapore : Adolescents

3 who attempted Suicide ( Chay-Hoon). 4. Impact of Disasters on Urban mental Health : The examples on the Victoran Bushfires ( Malcolm). The titles of their presentations shows a wide range urban mental health issues experienced by clinicians in different parts of the world. 2016, WPA RM Manila, the Philippines, January (1) WPA Regional Meeting in Manila, the Philippines, January Symposium on Urban Mental Health was held in January in Naotaka Shinfuku made presentation on Scope and activities of WPA Urban mental Heath. 2016, AFPA IC,Colombo Sri Lanka,May 2016 (2) International Congress of Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations (AFPA), Colombo, Sri Lanka, May Symposium on urban mental health, Colombo, Sri Lanka, was organized in May Norman Sartorius and Naotaka Shinfuku chaired, The topic included problems and possible countermeasures of urban mental health in Sri Lanka and India. 2017, AFPA WC, Abu Dhabi,UAE. At the 6 th World Congress o Asian Psychiatry (6WCAP), held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in March 2017, plenary round table on Urban Mental Health was held. The round table was chaired by Norman Sartorius and Naotaka Shinfuku. Dinesh Bhugra (WPA president), Helen Herrman (WPA President elect), Mazhar Malic( Pakistan), Thirunavukarasu Manickam (India) and Talat Matar (UAE) made presentation on priority issues on Urban Mental Health. The round table was attended by more than 300 participants. 2017, Contribution to WPA Book on Advances in Psychiatry Section agreed to join in the production of WPA book on Advances in Psychiatry and contribute to the chapter on Urban Mental Health. The title of the chapter was named as Urban Mental Health in the 21 st century. In this chapter, Norman Sartorius made a commentary for the chapter. Naotaka Shinfuku wrote on the devastation and the recovery of city of Kobe after the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake which took place in 1995 based on his experience. Takahiro Kato reviewed mental and physical comorbidities in cities with focus on isolation and pathology of young population. Eee Heok Kua covered a wide range of issues related to aging in Asia.

4 2017, WPA World Congress, Berlin, Germany, October 2017 Section Board Meeting was held at Weimar 4 Room of the Congress venue from on 11 th October Chairperson, General Secretary and two committee members attended among others. The board agreed to continue the present section officers to the next triennium as the section was reinstated in 2015 as an emergency measure. The election of section officers will be held at the Board meeting to be held during the next WPA World Congress in Hong Kong in Prof Jair de Jesus Mari (Brazil), committee member of the section made a plenary presentation on Violence in large urban centers around the globe Section symposium on: Urban mental health in the 21 st Century was held at Hall New York 2 on 11 th October. Prof Naotaka Shinfuku (Japan) and Prof Jair de Jesus Mari (Brazil) co-chaired the session. Four speakers made presentation on various aspects on urban mental health.1.niels Okkels (Denmark) Important questions on urban mental health, 2. Xudong Zhao (China), Family planning and mental health in Chinese cities, 3. Chi-Hung Ko (Taiwan), Internet addiction and gambling among urban youth. 4. Mazhar Malik (Pakistan), Disaster and psychological trauma in urban setting. Intersectional Symposium Psychiatric education and training in Asia-many faces and challenges was held on12th October. The symposium was jointly organized jointly with section of education and training. Naotaka Shinfuku (Japan) and Afzal Javed (Pakinstan/UK) co-chaired the session. Speakers included Thilini ( Sri Lanka), 1. Beyong the teaching of the subject, 2. Samia Abul ( United Arab Emirates), Psychiatric training in Arabic countries.3. Chay Hoon Tan (Singapore), Psychiatric training and education in Singapore and 4, Te-Jen Lai( Taiwan), Psychiatric training in Taiwan-past, present and future- The activities of the Section on Urban Mental Health at WPA Berlin 2017 demonstrated the revival of the section on urban mental health as very active WPA scientific section. (Drafted by Naotaka Shinfuku November 2017)

5 Group photo after the Section Symposium with speakers and participants. 11 th October 2017, Berlin Germany