High number of refugees in Germany - how is the mental health care dealing with this major challenge?

Abstract Europe is again confronted with a new dramatic emergency, a war which has already caused civil victims, mass displacement and even fear about a nuclear war and energy crisis. Again, Europe is facing new waves of war refugees, forcibly displaced people. There is increasing evidence that a large proportion of refugees or forcibly displaced persons suffer from the consequences of traumatic events and exhibit psychological problems or develop mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive and anxiety disorders, and relapses in psychotic episodes. European countries are trying to face with an extraordinary surge of solidarity and generosity, but at the same time with the awareness that the needs are much beyond reaction capacity of individual people and states. The direct and indirect consequences of this humanitarian catastrophe cannot be estimated at present. Mental healthcare services are suddenly faced with major challenges and need to develop or expand strategies to address them. In this presentation, strategies from Germany will be presented and discussed. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

The presentation also provided a system of therapy and rehabilitation for internally and externally displaced persons, as well as an evaluation of their effectiveness.

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The involvement of Croatian psychiatrists in helping the displaced persons from Ukraine M. Rojnic Kuzman 1,2 Abstract: After two years of pandemic with COVID-19 Europe is facing a war, which has already caused numerous death and injuries, mass displacement, and aggravated the economic and energy crisis and has left most countries completely unprepared and created a humanitarian crisis.The COVID-19 pandemics crisis pointed out the unpreparedness of the health (including mental health) sectors for the emergency situations.However, we also learnt some of the practices that proved effectiveincluding the fast creation of collaborative networks on a larger scale that also allowed fast spread of good practices and practical organisation of help.The European Psychiatric Association as well as individual national psychiatric association have started an informal network of solidarity for Ukraine on February 28 th , 2022 to respond to the needs of people in Ukraine as verbalized by the Ukrainian mental health professionals, but also to the need of surrounding countries where people from Ukraine fled to.Through this network several actions, including financial support, medical donations and education.The Croatian Psychiatric Association took the lead in the organisation of education for first line helpers and volunteers from Ukraine and countries surrounding Ukraine where displaced persons fled to, in collaboration with many partners.

placement, and aggravated the economic and energy crisis and has left most c
untries completely unprepared and created a humanitarian crisis.The COVID-19 pandemics crisis pointed out the unpreparedness of the health (including mental health) sectors for the emergency situations.However, we also learnt some of the practices that proved effectiveincluding the fast creation of collaborative networks on a larger scale that also allowed fast spread of good practices and practical organisation of help.The European Psychiatric Association as well as individual national psychiatric association have started an informal network of solidarity for Ukraine on February 28 th , 2022 to respond to the needs of peo le in Ukraine as verbalized by the Ukrainian mental health professionals, but also to the need of surrounding countries where people from Ukraine fled to.Through this n

l supp
rt, medical donations and education.The Croatian Psychiatric Association took the lead in the organisation of education for first line helpers and volunteers from Ukraine and countries surrounding Ukraine where displaced persons fled to, in collaboration with many partners.


Disclosure of Interest: None Declared


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High number of refugees in Germany -how is the mental health care dealing with this major challenge?Abstract: Europe is again confronted with a new dramatic emergency, a war which has already caused civil victims, mass displacement and even fear about a nuclear war and energy crisis.Again, Europe is facing new waves of war refugees, forcibly displaced people.There is increasing evidence that a large proportion of refugees or forcibly displaced persons suffer from the consequences of traumatic events and exhibit psychological problems or develop mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive and anxiety disorders, and relapses in psychotic episodes.European countries are trying to face with an extraordinary surge of solidarity and generosity, but at the same time with the awareness that the needs are much beyond reaction capacity of individual people and states.The direct and indirect consequences of this humanitarian catastrophe cannot be estimated at present.Mental healthcare services are suddenly faced with major challenges and need to develop or expand strategies to address them.In th

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High number of refugees in Germany -how is the mental health care dealing with this major challenge?Abstract: Europe is again confronted with a new dramatic emergency, a war which has already caused civil victims, mass displacement and even fear about a nuclear war and energy crisis.Again, Europe is facing new waves of war refugees, forcibly displaced people.There is increasing evidence that a large proportion of refugees or forcibly displaced persons suffer from the consequences of traumatic events and exhibit psychological problems or develop mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive and anxiety disorders, and relapses in psychotic episodes.European countries are trying to face with an extraordinary surge of solidarity and generosity, but at the same time with the awareness that the needs are much beyond reaction capacity of individual people and states.The direct and indirect consequences of this humanitarian catastrophe cannot be estimated at present.Mental healthcare services are suddenly faced with major challenges and need to develop or expand strategies to address them.In this presentation, strategies from Germany will be presented and discussed.Abstract: Armed conflicts produce a wide series of distressing consequences, including death, all of which impact negatively on the lives of survivors.This presentatiin focuses specifically on the mental health consequences of war on adults and child/adolescent refugees or those living in war zones basing upon review of all systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses published from 2005 up until the current time, that is Fifteen systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses conducted in adult populations, and seven relating to children and adolescents.Prevalence rates of Anxiety, Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were two-three-fold higher amongst people exposed to armed conflict compared to those who had not been exposed, with women and children being the most vulnerable sujects.A series of war-related, migratory and postmigratory stressors contribute to short-and long-term mental health issues in the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees.Based upon these evidences psychiatrists and psychiatric associations should take also the ethical responsibility for raising awareness of political decision-makers as to the mental health consequences caused by armed conflicts as a further reason for improving peacekeeping initiatives.Abstract: In recent years, the state-funded side of the Hungarian psychiatric system has been struggling with a serious lack of resources.During the pandemic the level of organization, which was also not perfect, continued to deteriorate.Immediately after the breakout of Ukrainian war the civilians started to make significant efforts to support refugees.From the beginning our Association joined activities of Solidarity Network organized by EPA.We made efforts among other things to find Ukrainian-speaking psychiatrists to tackle the language barriers, connect the needs with the offers psychologists.When a refugee is admitted to a psychiatric unit as a patient, they receive all mental health care as any Hungarian citizen would.Overall however, mental care is insufficiently organized and the patient pathways for refugees -as those of the population -are not well-defined.The coordination between government services and civil organizations helping refugees is unsatisfactory.There is no steady support system that could provide regular, professional mental health care for those in need, thus a mental triage process is also missing to uncover the perhaps less severe mental problems, that nevertheless might require professional attention.Consequently there also seems to be a lack of assistance in trauma processing.There are some official civil organizations (e.g.Maltese Charity Service, Hungarian Red Cross) that are doing all they can for the refugees, but most of their staff is not professionally equipped to provide mental health care or to reliably identify when it is needed.When refugees show symptoms of a severe nature (psychosis, mania, severe depression, suicidal thoughts) they reach out to the professional mental health care system, but refugees struggling with less obvious mental health problems generally stay out of sight of professional psychiatric or psychological care.Abstract: Immediately after Russia commenced aggression against Ukraine, the Polish Psychiatric Association publicly called for humanitarian support for Ukraine and initiated meetings with representatives of Psychiatric Societies operating in Ukraine in order to identify current needs in the war-stricken areas and coordinate aid.The PPA allocated its financial resources to humanitarian aid and, through the EPA, appealed for condemnation of military operations as well as support for Ukraine by individual NPAs.According to the UHNR data over 4 million displaced people, refugees, came to Poland so far and some of them benefited from such help.The Polish Psychiatric Association supports the initiatives of nongovernmental organizations supporting refugees and monitors and responds to the needs reported by the Ukrainian side on an ongoing basis.At present, the PPA activities focus on the following priorities: 1. Need-adapted-help: Provision of customized aid -not only medications but also power generators, technical equipment.And so, the PPA shipped to Ukraine some basic equipment, sleeping mats, bedding, mattresses, backpacks, cleaning products, personal hygiene products, as well as tools for renovation and construction.2. Awareness -highlighting the consequences of Russia's aggression on people with mental disorders in Ukraine and its impact on the

ill be
presented and discussed.Abstract: Armed conflicts produce a wide series of distressing consequences, including death, all of which impact negatively on the lives of survivors.This presentatiin focuses specifically on the mental health consequences of war on adults and child/adolescent refugees or those living in war zones basing upon review of all systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses published from 2005 up until the current time, that is Fifteen systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses conducted in adult populations, and seven relating to children and adolescents.Prevalence rates of Anxiety, Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were two-three-fold higher amongst people exposed to armed conflict compared to those who had not been exposed, with women and children being the most vulnerable sujects.A series of war-related, migratory and postmigratory stressors contribute to short-and long-term mental health issues in the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees.Based upon these evidences psychiatrists and psychiatric associations should take also the ethical responsibility for raising awareness of political decision-makers as to the mental health consequences caused by armed conflicts as a further reason for improving peacekeeping initiatives.Abstract: In recent years, the state-funded side of the Hungarian psychiatric system has been struggling with a serious lack of resources.During the pandemic the level of organization, which was also not perfect, continued to deteriorate.Immediately after the breakout of Ukrainian war the civilians started to make significant efforts to support refugees.From the beginning our Association joined activities of Solidarity Network organized by EPA.We made efforts among other things to find Ukrainian-speaking psychiatrists to tackle the language barriers, connect the needs with the offers psychologists.When a refugee is admitted to a psychiatric unit as a patient, they receive all mental health care as any Hungarian citizen would.Overall however, mental care is insufficiently organized and the patient pathways for refugees -as those of the population -are not well-defined.The coordination between government services and civil organizations helping refugees is unsatisfactory.There is no steady support system that could provide regular, professional mental health care for those in need, thus a mental triage process is also missing to uncover the perhaps less severe mental proble

.Conse
uently there also seems to be a lack of assistance in trauma processing.There are some official civil organizations (e.g.Maltese Charity Service, Hungarian Red Cross) that are doing all they can for the refugees, but most of their staff is not professionally equipped to provide mental health care or to reliably identify when it is needed.When refugees show symptoms of a severe nature (psychosis, mania, severe depression, suicidal thoughts) they reach out to the professional mental health care system, but refugees struggling with less obvious mental health problems generally stay out of sight of professional psychiatric or psychological care.Abstract: Immediately after Russia commenced aggression against Ukraine, the Polish Psychiatric Association publicly called for humanitarian support for Ukraine and initiated meetings with representatives of Psychiatric Societies operating in Ukraine in order to identify current needs in the war-stricken areas and coordinate aid.The PPA allocated its financial resources to humanitarian aid and, through the EPA, appealed for condemnation of military operations as well as support for Ukraine by individual NPAs.According to the UHNR data over 4 million displaced people, refugees, came to Poland so far and some of them benefited from such help.The Polish Psychiatric Association supports the initiatives of nongovernmental organizations supporting refugees and monitors and responds to the needs reported by the Ukrainian side on an ongoing basis.At present, the PPA activities focus on the following priorities: 1. Need-adapted-help: Provision of customized aid -not only medications but also power generators, technical equipment.And so, the PPA shipped to Ukraine some basic equipment, sleeping mats, bedding, mattresses, backpacks, cleaning products, personal hygiene products, as well as tools for renovation and construction.2. Awareness -highlighting the consequences of Russia's aggression on people with mental disorders in Ukraine and its impact on the


Disclosure of


Disclosure of



Keywords: civilian efforts, unmet needs, lack of human resource Disclosure of Interest: None Declared W0025 You are not alone…Polish Psychiatric Association supporting Ukraine J. Samochowiec Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.180

Zagreb University Hospital Centre and
Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.176

Disclosure of
Keywords: civilian efforts, unmet needs, lack of human resource Disclosure of Interest: None Declared W0025 You are not alone…Polish Psychiatric Association supporting Ukraine J. Samochowiec Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.180