Dear Colleagues,
The digital transformation is one of the greatest challenges of our time and also an enormous task for society as a whole. Technical developments and their integration into our daily lives create both opportunities and risks for mental health.
Psychiatry and psychotherapy play a key role in supporting, moderating and shaping these developments, which are much more than a purely technological change. The digital transformation is touching all social and cultural layers of our society and is affecting health, illness and disability on a large scale.
How does digitalisation influence the development and course of mental illness? Which innovations and risks arise for diagnostic procedures, for example through approaches such as digital phenotyping? What effect do e-mental health options have on the doctor-patient relationship? Where and how does digitalisation stimulate research and where does it affect ethical aspects, which must not be ignored? Despite all the technological advances, more than ever we have to contextualise the person as a whole and always preserve data security, privacy and sovereignty.
The DGPPN Congress 2021 will be looking at all these aspects and many more enthralling ones under its main theme "Digital transformation and mental health" and will also be presenting all the facets of psychiatry and psychotherapy. The DGPPN is also preparing a separate, attractive track for the young generation of psychiatrists.
The digital congress 2020 was extremely popular so the DGPPN Congress 2021 is being planned as an analogue/digital combination, regardless of the unpredictable corona situation. Some of the events in CityCube Berlin will be livestreamed on the internet and some will also be available afterwards as videos on demand. You can find up-to-date information on the current plan on the congress website.
We look forward to welcoming you to the DGPPN Congress 2021.
With best regards
Thomas Pollmächer
President of the DGPPN
