Ethics in Psychiatry

Hanfried Helmchen was Director of the psychiatric clinic at the Free University of Berlin (FUB) from 1971 to 1999 and is now Professor Emeritus. His areas of work included epilepsy, depression, clinical therapy research, ethics in psychiatry, history of psychiatry, mental disorders in old age, and dementia. He took part in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE). He served in 1979/80 as President of the German Society of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience (DGPN), was elected Member of the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences in 1993, and is also Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He was Advisor to the World Health Organization. From 1998 to 2005 he served as Chairman of the Committee of Medical Ethics of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry. Prof. Dr. Norman Sartorius is described as one of the most prominent and influential psychiatrists of his generation. He specialized in neurology and psychiatry and also holds a Ph.D. in psychology. In his long and successful career, he has engaged in clinical work, research, and teaching at the universities of Zagreb, London and Geneva, among others. He was also Head of the Mental Health Department of the World Health Organization (WHO) and President of the World Psychiatric Association and of the European Psychiatric Association. He is now committed to policy matters important for the future of psychiatry and engaged in programs related to the reduction of stigma of mental illness, the management of comorbidity of mental and physical illness and education of psychiatry. Jakov Gather studied medicine and philosophy and is currently Head of the independent interdisciplinary research group SALUS (“The ethics of coercion. Striking a balance between autonomy, well-being and security in psychiatric practice”; funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine and the Institute for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine of the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). Furthermore, he serves as Clinical Psychiatrist at the RUB’s Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine and the LWL Forensic Psychiatric Hospital Herne. He is Member of the commission “Ethics and Law” of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN) and coordinates the working group “Ethics in Psychiatry” based at the German Academy of Ethics in Medicine (AEM).  

Ethical Principles in Psychiatry: National, Regional and Worldwide Codes of Ethics.- Informed Consent in Mental Healthcare.- Mental Capacity and Supported Decision-making.- Confidentiality.- Justice in Access to and Distribution of Resources in Psychiatry and Mental Health Care.- A-Z of Ethics of User Involvement in Mental Health Care and Research.- Societal Framework of Psychiatry.- The UN CRPD and Mental Healthcare.- Ethical Issues Arising when Making Diagnoses in Psychiatry.- Economical Framework of Psychiatric Care.- Conflicts of Interests.- Stigma and Discrimination in Relation to People with Mental Health Conditions and Psychiatric Institutions.- Ethical Issues Regarding People Affected by Poverty and Serious Mental Illness.- Ethics of Deinstitutionalisation.- Forensic Psychiatry.- Ethics of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Mental Healthcare.- Coercion in Psychiatry and the Position of Families.- ‘Coercive’ Measures.- Development of the WPA Position Statement on Supporting Alternatives to Coercion.- Prediction and Prevention.- Ethical Issues in Psychiatric Treatment.- Ethical Implications of Psychopharmacotherapy.- Treatment of Substance Dependence.- Ethical Problems of Psychotherapy.- Ethics of Non-invasive Neuromodulation in Psychiatry.- Ethics of Psychiatric Neurosurgery.- Sexual and Gender Minorities in Mental Healthcare.- Palliative Psychiatry.- Dementia and End-of-life Decisions: Ethical Issues – A Perspective from The Netherlands.- Dementia and End-of-life Decisions: A Relational Perspective. Commentary on Ron Berghmans, Dementia and End-of-life Decisions: Ethical Issues – A Perspective from The Netherlands.- Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry: An Overview of the Field.- Ethical Issues in Psychiatric Treatment Research.- Ethical Concerns in Carrying Out Surveys of Psychiatric Morbidity.- Ethics Committees for Clinical Research – The West-European Paradigm.- Political Abuse and Neglect of Psychiatry.- Abuse of Psychiatry for Political Purposes in the USSR: A Case Study and Personal Account of the Efforts to Bring Them to an End.- Ethical Issues Regarding (Neuro-Enhancement).- Clinical Ethics Support in Mental Healthcare.- Psychiatric Advance Directives and Related Documents.- Teaching Psychiatric Ethics to Tomorrow’s Medical Doctors.