WPA Women’s Mental Health Symposium at the 23rd WPA World Congress of Psychiatry .on September 28th – October1st 2023 in Vienna, Austria

Our group of female collaborators who represent national psychiatric communities, International Association of Women’s Mental Health, European Depression Association, and World Psychiatric Association (Women’s Mental Health Section), managed a Symposium titled “SUICIDALITY IN EUROPEAN WOMEN: FINDING STRENGTHS TO OVERCOME UNCERTAIN TIMES TOGETHER” during the 23^rd WPA World Congress of Psychiatry taken place on September 28^th – October1st 2023, Vienna, Austria.

 Chairpersons of the symposium Prof. Florence Thibaut (France) and Assoc. Prof. Daria Smirnova (Russia) supervised the program including four challenging topics:

• “Death is a supple suitor”: The overlooked impact of suicidality in women
• Xenia Gonda, Budapest, Hungary;

2) Prevalence of suicidal behaviours and its correlates in women living in European countries: based on epidemiological studies

• Jelena Vrublevska, Riga, Latvia;

3) Modelling suicidality risks in female populations and understanding the phenomenon of suicidality via pandemic context – Daria Smirnova, Samara, Russia;

4) Depression, suicides and conspiracy theories in female populations – A cultural crossroads matrix

• Anca-Livia Panfil, Timisoara, Romania

The symposium focused on the aims of promoting gender-sensitive health services for women with suicidal experiences, based on current findings in social psychiatry, psychiatric epidemiology, and lessons learnt about psychosocial stressors arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

Suicides account for 71% of intentional violent deaths in women compared to 50% in men, females are 2-3 times more likely to attend hospital following a suicidal act, and women are also highly overrepresented in all forms of suicidal behaviour, including also ideation and attempts, which should be taken into account within the accurate understanding of the complex phenomenon of suicidality.

The talks discovered key findings of international multicentre projects organised by the representatives of World Psychiatric Association (COMET-G study), International Association of Women’s Mental Health (IAWMH), European Depression Association (EDA) and national psychiatric communities, focusing on the gender gap and gender paradox in suicidal behaviour, discussing specific and differential aspects of suicide in women, as well as female-specific risk and protective factors based on the data from European countries. Theories and explanations for the gender specificity in suicidal behaviours, prevalence rates of suicides in women living in European countries, understanding suicidality phenomenon via pandemic context, suicidality correlates with depression and conspiracy beliefs existing in European cross-cultural matrix of values and diversities, have been reviewed.

To conclude, our international team formulated actionable resolutions of key recommendations for recognising and screening of suicide risks in women, as well as treatment and prevention strategies for protecting and improving women’s mental health.

International Association of Women’s Mental Health
9th International Congress on Women’s Mental Health “Determination and Solidarity” November 6^th-8^th 2022, Maastricht, the Netherlands

The 9th International Congress on Women’s Mental Health “Determination and Solidarity” was held on November 6^th-8^th 2022 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Our international team presented a symposium “SHE WAS THE PHANTOM OF DELIGHT: WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH – FROM SUICIDAL THOUGHTS TO ACTIONS FOR A PROSPEROUS LIFE” under the supervision of the President of the International Association of Women’s Mental Health, Prof. Florence Thibaut (France). The title of the symposium was suggested by our creative colleague Assoc. Prof. Xenia Gonda and is consonant with the idea of ​​​​an art of English poetry (She was the phantom of delight by William Wordsworth).

The Symposium program included presentations on the topics the pathogenesis of depression and suicide, taking into account the role of trauma and stress (Xenia Gonda, Budapest, Hungary), anxiety disorders in women and health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (Jelena Vrublevska, Riga, Latvia), the implementation of the WHO recommendations to protect the rights of women experiencing mental health disorders within the framework of the destigmatization program and the provision of timely psychological and psychiatric care, taking into account the psychotraumatic experience and cultural aspects of Asian countries, including the phenomenon of VAW – violence against women (Daria Smirnova, Russia, Salmi Razali, Malaysia).

The atmosphere of the congress was ufriendly and productive. In addition to psychiatric lectures, the famous primatologist Professor Franz Waal from the University of Utrecht delivered a keynote lecture on a biological topic in the format of an extended TED-Talk about how socialization and the continuation of the active life of generations had been mainly grounded on women, and among monkeys, the “leaders of evolution” were alpha individuals of a female gender, not male ones, the information was perceived critically.

Detailed information about the congress with participants from 45 countries from all continents is available at the website by the link: https://www.iawmh2022.org

The conference program is available by the link: https://www.iawmh2022.org/programme/

Maastricht University Rating

• According to THE World University Rankings[en] 2019, Maastricht University ranks 128th.
• QS World University Rankings 2019 placed Maastricht University 211th in the world.
• Shanghai Ranking (ARWU) 2018 placed the university in the 201-300 range.
• The QS Top 50 Under 50, placed Maastricht University 15th in 2019[16], while the Times Higher Education THE 150 Under 50ranked it 5th in 2018

Faculty of Medicine, Life and Health Sciences

Randwyck Campus: Faculty of Medicine

Randwyck Campus: University Hospital and Nobel Laureate Peter Debye Monument

The Faculty of Medicine, Life and Health Sciences was formed in 2007 by merging the Faculty of Health Sciences with the Faculty of Medicine, which was the oldest faculty at Maastricht University. The Faculty of Health Sciences was founded in 1980. The broad range of subjects taught in the field of human health made this faculty truly unique, not only in the Netherlands but also in Europe. This format of study allowed students to integrate their research work in the fields of social and medical sciences.