Bipolar Today

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This week in Paris, France, the ECNP or European College of Neuropsychopharmachology has its annual conference. At this conference, specialists in the field of neuropsychopharmacology will come together to discuss numerous issues in their field. Neuropsychopharmacology is, effectively, the study of the brain and its role in mental illness and the use of medications in treating those issues. Conferences like this are important because the breadth of subjects studied by those in the field means that no one can become an expert in the entire field, and need to interrelate. Two subjects that will be special focuses this year are epidemiological research on the prevalence of mental illness in Europe and mood disorders in youth and adolescents. As reported at physorg.com, emphasis will be put on “take home messages” for physicians.

Commentary

It is interesting to see that the prevalence of mental illness and pediatric bipolar disorder are subjects of focus during this conference, as they are subjects of interest for the society as a whole as well. In a lot of ways, they are crucibles of distrust for neuropsychopharmacology. On the one hand, mental illness rates have gone up over the past few decades, leading to many questions about overdiagnosis. On the other, diagnosis of bipolar disorder especially have gone up among children. I know when I hear people complaining about the evils of “big pharma,” it is precisely these issues that they raise. It seems that neuropsychopharmacology in Europe knows that it has a trust problem here, and is trying to address it by putting together some “take-home messages.”

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