It’s the last day of the conference. Telling you about it seems like a big responsibility. So, let’s get started without wasting any more words. Every morning we had the chance to do some well-being stuff. On Friday, it was Pilates at the BeachFront. I was so tired on Friday that I missed the Pilates (but, to be fair, I was punctual on the other days and arrived at the venue by 7:15am). Choosing which session I’d attend was the first thing I did on Friday. So many great options, it was hard to pick. Fortunately, most of the lectures were recorded and we’ll be able to watch it from home once they are available.
To begin, I decided to attend the Symposium about the role of social media in self-harm and suicide prevention. It was led by Professor Jo Robinson and had brilliant speakers. Important reflections and debates were raised about how tech advances changed the way we communicate, and brought us to an active place, being not only consumers but content producers also. Have you ever thought about the responsibilities involved in each post you make on Instagram, for example? Considering we still have little evidence on this matter, other points were raised, such as what is considered harmful content, and how to deal with it; consent during online interventions (especially for youngsters, considering the internet is an “adult-free” environment); how to deal with addiction when developing mental health promotion apps and online interventions; have we ever thought about and evaluated the impact of blurring someone’s post? Additionally to those debates, great research was presented, giving us an idea of how was created #chatsafe (if you still don’t know #chatsafe, stop right now and go get to know it!).
Written by:
Camila S. Altavini
Clinical Psychologist at University of Brasília PhD student at University of São Paulo
Associated student in the IASP-ECG Assistant ECR at the SIG Development of national suicide prevention strategies.
After a 30min break, I attended the Epidemiology Oral Session. Five researchers from different countries presented their works. In addition to the diverse methods used, we got to know a bit of the context of suicide in different countries: a Latent Class Analysis with a cohort study from Ireland, an analysis on the methods of suicide, using national death registries from Slovenia, a jointpoint analysis using the national register data from Denmark, an analysis on the seasonality of suicide from South Korea, and last but not least, a survey with natinoally representative sample from Ghana.
After the lunch break (delicious food, by the way), I went to a roundtable about risk factors and social determinants. It started brilliantly, raising a discussion about the differences in research between HIC and LMIC and how this impacts development of prevention plans and interventions. Have you ever noticed that most of the evidence we have available about suicide is from HIC? Cultural and economic context have a great influence on the social determinants among different populations. The following speaker highlighted the importance of distinguishing depression from mental pain.
To finish the congress with a ‘golden key’, as we say in Brazil, a literally Great Debate about if we should continue with gender research in suicide prevention was one of the final sessions. Chaired by Zac Seidler, Diana and Rory argued in favor; and the team against was Jaelea, and Sanderson (aka. Sandy)… you know them! The debate was, well, great! It was joyful, intelligent, with just a little bit of sarcasm. Following, we were pleased with a fantastic keynote by no one less than Sheldon Solomon presenting his reflections and research about the role of death in life. The closing ceremony was beautiful and we’ll miss everyone (especially the Magic Unicorn!).
The congress ended, but new friends will stay as a reminder of these four special days. It was a lot of information that now needs to be assimilated, but batteries were charged by this welcoming conference, delightful chats, the beautiful city, the adriatic sea, and we hope to see everyone again in Vienna!
