Evolution of International Psychiatry

Abstract

International psychiatry is currently facing serious challenges triggered by the global economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. These global events lead to the need to broaden our nosographic and therapeutic horizons, and to make use of the newest psychological approaches and the latest neuroscience acquisitions. The focus should be on the psychological consequences of the pandemic, not only on people suffering from mental disorders, but also on the general population, for which the risk of developing psychic symptoms appears to be increased. A population that needs special attention is that of health workers involved in the management of the pandemic. In facing these problems, psychiatry today can use numerous new clinical applications and technologies in the fields of precision medicine. These include genomics, neuroimaging, and microbiomics, which can also be integrated with each other through machine learning systems. They can provide new contributions both in treatment personalization and in the evolution of nosographic systems. Besides this, the contribution of psychotherapies and dynamic and clinical psychology appears to be indispensable for a complete understanding of the clinical and personological aspects of patients. This journal aims to include innovative studies deriving from original, clinical, and basic research in the fields of mental health, precision psychiatry, genomics, neuroimaging, neuropsychopharmacology, and dynamic and clinical psychology.