ESCAP is shocked and deeply saddened by the recent terrorist attacks in Israel and the escalating violence and horrors in Israel and Gaza that ensued and are still on-going. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the victims and everyone affected by these horrific events.
In our positional statements "War hits children first" and "The impact of war" we highlighted that it is always children who are hit first and trauma research shows the devastating consequences and what our profession can contribute to support and treat these children.
We call for the immediate release of the children taken hostage and the provision of care for them in the aftermath of their ordeal. Caregivers taken as hostages with their children and siblings should be freed together with them, as they play an important role in the direct support of their children.
We fully support UNICEF's statement from 24 October and their call for ceasefires and for sustained and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance.
The ESCAP Board: Jörg Fegert (ESCAP President), Dimitris Anagnostopoulos, Andrea Danese, Maja Drobnič Radobuljac, Stephan Eliez, Manon Hillegers, Pieter Hoekstra, Enikő Kiss, Paul Klauser, Konstantinos Kotsis, Anne-Marie Råberg Christensen, Carmen Schröder
2023
ESCAP's purpose is to promote the mental health and wellbeing of children, adolescents and their families throughout Europe. To do so, we are constantly working on initiatives based on research, clinical and policy, as well as organising events and educational programs to nurture child and adolescent psychiatry at all levels. Our recent activities:
Aims
Accoring to its status, ESCAP pursues the following aims:
View our Bylaws
Goals
The goals of ESCAP are:
ECAP Journal - December 2023 issue
Editorial: The long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents’ mental health
Maria Melchior
In May 2023, the World Health organisation announced the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the well-described consequences of the pandemic and of the sanitary crisis which resulted from it was a rapid and durable deterioration in the mental health of children and adolescents: in particular, a notable increase in levels of anxiety and depression. The pandemic still casts a long shadow on children’s and adolescents’ mental health and all efforts should be made to implement actions that may help address the needs of those who require psychological attention, from broad-ranging, population-wide, psychosocial support, through psychological care all the way to psychiatric treatment whenever necessary.
MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH: New Realities, Experiences and Knowledge
At ESCAP we love to participate in the local congresses that our National Member countries organise. ESCAP president Dimitris Anagnostopoulos, ECAP editor in chief Johannes Hebebrand, ESCAP 2022 congress president Manon Hillegers, joined ESCAP board member Milica Pejovic-Milovancevic in Belgrade on the 26-28th May to take part in the Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions of Serbia DEAPS VI congress. They held a special ESCAP symposium to discuss the impact of COVID19 on mental health of youth in Europe. Professor Hebebrand held a plenary lecture on "Pronounced clinical improvement in patients with anorexia nervosa upon treatment with human recombinant leptin". In general, the 3-day congress had a packed programme with great opportunities for attendees to discuss key issues in child and adolescent psychiatry in Europe.
We are more than happy to have ESCAP representatives at your local congresses, get in touch with us on editor@escap.eu to discuss further.
European Child + Adolescent Psychiatry Journal
"The infliction of war and military aggression upon children must be considered a violation of their basic human rights and can have a persistent impact on their physical and mental health and well-being, with long-term consequences for their development. Given the recent events in Ukraine with millions on the flight, this scoping policy editorial aims to help guide mental health support for young victims of war through an overview of the direct and indirect burden of war on child mental health. We highlight multilevel, need-oriented, and trauma-informed approaches to regaining and sustaining outer and inner security after exposure to the trauma of war."
The European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) is a not-for-profit association whose purpose is to promote the mental health and wellbeing of children, adolescents and their families. As well as to improve the quality of their lives and to ensure children’s right for support to healthy mental development and for appropriate preventive and therapeutic mental health services and interventions.
