Phd course on "Early Detection and prevention os severe mental illness". An italian perspective

Worldwide mental disorders represent a striking and growing challenge for health systems in developed and developing regions. The peak of onset of mental disease is from the early teens to the mid-twenties. The early intervention paradigm advocates detecting and treating mental illness at their earliest stages, with the goal of influencing the trajectory of illness evolution. This is not a simple task. In most countries, included Italy, child and adolescents mental health services are separated from adult services; this lack in continuity of care has been described as the “weakest link in a system where it should be most robust”. To promote a cultural change allowing a valid and different clinical approach to mental health, from 2008 Sapienza University of Rome has established a PhD course on “Early detection of mental illness”. Since then, in collaboration with other foreign institutions, researches mainly focused on diagnostic aspects of UHR states, combining more diagnostic criteria centred on psychopathological aspects (i.e. basic symptoms and self disorders), as well as on psychotherapeutic interventions. Promotion of these research issues needs to be strongly supported in the future.