Keynote Title: Can we enhance the efficacy of cognitive reappraisal by systematically co-manipulating somato-sensoric information processing

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is among the most effective emotion regulation strategies and is widely used in evidence-based treatments for mental disorders such as depression. However, evidence suggests that the efficacy of CR is reduced in individuals with more severe forms of depression.

One possible explanation is that somatosensory information—such as perceiving one’s voice as timid, one’s facial expression as tense, or one’s posture as stooped—may invalidate and thereby undermine adaptive reappraisals. This mismatch may weaken the impact of CR on mood and reduce patients’ motivation to practice CR consistently enough to fully realize its therapeutic potential.

This keynote will present the hypothesis that the efficacy of CR can be enhanced by systema-tically integrating somatosensory processes into CR practice. Drawing on a series of experi-mental and clinical studies, the talk will examine how bodily signals interact with cognitive processes during emotion regulation and how the targeted co-manipulation of somatosensory information may strengthen antidepressant effects.

Findings will be discussed with regard to their theoretical significance, clinical implications, and potential applications for improving interventions for depression.

BIOGRAPHIE

Prof. Dr. Matthias Berking is Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychothe-rapy at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg (FAU), Director of the Psy-chotherapy Outpatient Clinic and of the Training Center for Psychotherapists at the FAU. He is also author of numerous scientific articles and ranked in the top 1% of most cited resear-chers worldwide in Clinical Psychology according to the Stanford list in 2025.

Title: Tabletop role-playing games as transdiagnostic therapeutic tools

Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPG), such as Dungeons and Dragons, is a type of collaborative game in which players take on the roles of fictional characters and co-create a story, usually guided by a Game Master. The game is primarily played through spoken interaction, often around a table, and may involve dices, miniatures, maps, and rule systems to determine outcomes of players’ actions. TTRPG-mediated psychological interventions are therapeutic approaches that capitalize on TTRPG to help participants develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills through a safe, structured environment. These interventions are often led by trained therapists or facilitators acting as the Game Master, allowing them to address psychological symptoms in real time through collaborative storytelling, group problem-solving, and character-driven scenarios and stories. Recent studies show that TTRPG-mediated psychological interventions are efficient in reducing social anxiety and emotional symptoms, increasing social connectedness, or improving social skills in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder. The current talk aims to offer a critical overview of the available evidence regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of TTRPG-mediated psychological interventions, and address how to implement such interventions in clinical practice. We will also present the results of our pre-registered pilot studies, which draw on cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques implemented through the practice of the game Dungeons & Dragons, with sub-clinical and clinical individuals experiencing social anxiety and addictive use of video games.

Supporting reference:
Billieux, J., Fournier, L., Rochat, L., Georgieva, I., Eben, C., Malmdorf Andersen, M., King, D., Simon, O., Khazaal, Y., Lieberoth, A. & Bloch., J. (2025) Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot program using offline Tabletop Role-Playing Games to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in multiplayer online videogames. Royal Society Open Science, 12, 250273. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250273

BIOGRAPHIE

Joël Billieux is associate professor of clinical psychology, psychopathology, and psychological assessment at the university of Lausanne, and Co-director of the Cognitive and Affective Regulation Lab (CARLA), Institute of Psychology (IP), University of Lausanne (UNIL). He is also an associate researcher at Center for Excessive Gambling (Lausanne University Hospitals). In the past years, he has been head of the Addictive and Compulsive Behaviours Lab (ACB-Lab) at the University of Luxembourg (2017-2020), co-director of the Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology (Université catholique de Louvain; 2012-2017), and co-director of the Internet and Gambling Disorders Clinic (Saint-Luc University Hospitals, Brussels; 2015-2017). He earned his PhD in Psychological Sciences and accomplished his postgraduate CBT training at the University of Geneva. His main area of research regards the psychological factors (cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal) involved in the etiology of addictive behaviors (with a particular focus on self-regulation-related processes), and the conceptualization and diagnosis of behavioral addictions. He also conducts research focusing on the effect of emerging technologies on human behavior, and on the therapeutic use of tabletop role-playing games. He is a contributor of ICD-11 CDDR (Clinical descriptions and diagnostic requirements for ICD-11 mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders) section on “substance use disorder and addictive behaviors”, and an elected board member of International Society for the Study of Behavioural Addictions (ISSBA). He has published more than 390 peer-reviewed papers, several book chapters, and four books.

Maria do Céu Salvador est professeure à l’Université de Coimbra. Elle enseigne les modèles et interventions de thérapie comportementale cognitive (TCC), mène des recherches et supervise des formations, des masters et des thèses de doctorat en TCC. Psychologue clinicienne et psychothérapeute et superviseure accréditée en TCC, elle exerce en cabinet privé et enseigne dans le cadre de plusieurs programmes de formation, au Portugal et à l’étranger. Elle est actuellement présidente de l’Association portugaise de thérapie comportementale.

Keynote title: Advances in personalized and precision mental health care

Precision mental health care is an emerging field that aims to offer patients the right treatment, in the right dose, and at the right time. A central idea is that we can predict an individual’s likely response to available treatments by observing how other -similar- patients responded to these treatments in the past. Contemporary studies use data science methods and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to make individualized predictions and treatment recommendations. This presentation will describe clinical trials of data-driven treatment personalization tools developed in the National Health Service in England.

BIO
Jaime Delgadillo PhD is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London. He also works as a cognitive behavioural therapist at the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma (CADAT) in London. He has twenty years of clinical experience and has published over 150 scientific papers and book chapters in the field of mental health. His research focuses on the use of digital health and artificial intelligence technologies to support mental health care. He is an associate editor of the journal Psychotherapy Research and a member of the expert advisory group for the National Health Service (NHS) Talking Therapies system in England.

Key References:
Lutz, W., Schwartz, B., Vehlen, A., Eberhardt, S. T., & Delgadillo, J. (2025). Advances in personalization of psychological interventions. World Psychiatry, 24(3), 343-345. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21342
Delgadillo, J., Ali, S., Fleck, K., Agnew, C., Southgate, A., Parkhouse, L., … & Barkham, M. (2022). Stratified care vs stepped care for depression: a cluster randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(2), 101-108. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.3539

Keynote Title: Beyond Survival: Attentional Control, Emotional Resilience and Implications for Healthcare Policy

Anxiety and depression are among the leading contributors to global disability, yet interventions that deliver sustained, long‑term benefits remain limited, and key risk factors are still poorly understood. The need for global health policies that promote emotional resilience within supportive medicine—particularly in the context of chronic conditions such as breast cancer—has never been more urgent.

In this talk, I will trace the journey from fundamental scientific discoveries in our research on attentional control and its role in emotional vulnerability and resilience, to translational interventions capable of delivering sustainable improvements in quality of life. These interventions target neurocognitive and autonomic functioning and demonstrate the potential for step‑change advances in psychological outcomes. The primary focus is on (breast) cancer, where anxiety and depression are known to shape clinical outcomes, limiting the effectiveness of survival‑extending medical advances. The broader implications extend across chronic illness and mental health more generally.

I will conclude by outlining how simple, accessible, and psycho‑educational interventions can be systematically embedded within healthcare delivery models and policy frameworks, enabling sustainable support structures that empower patients, clinicians, and services to move beyond survival toward long‑term resilience and recovery.

BIOGRAPHIE

Nazanin Derakhshan est professeure de psychopathologie expérimentale et fondatrice du Centre pour le renforcement de la résilience face au cancer du sein (BRiC) au Royaume-Uni. Elle y mène des recherches innovantes sur la résilience émotionnelle dans les situations d’anxiété, de dépression et de cancer. Ses travaux ont mis en lumière le rôle crucial du contrôle attentionnel dans la vulnérabilité émotionnelle et ont conduit au développement d’interventions neurocognitives efficaces. Ayant survécu à un cancer du sein, elle est profondément engagée dans le soutien aux femmes grâce à des ressources psychoéducatives et a été largement reconnue pour son impact, notamment en étant nommée figure clé du changement dans Birkbeck Inspires. Avec plus de 100 publications et près de 20 000 citations, Naz a apporté une contribution significative à la psychologie et à l’intégration des soins de santé mentale en oncologie. Elle conseille également des organisations caritatives et gouvernementales, défendant des approches holistiques et fondées sur la recherche pour la prise en charge du cancer et le bien-être psychologique.

Keynote: Cultural Adaptation of CBT for Youth Anxiety and Depression in Non-WEIRD Nations

Anxiety and depression are among the most prevalent mental health disorders in young people, affecting up to 32% of the general population. These conditions frequently co-occur with other mental health problems and, when left untreated, often follow a chronic and impairing trajectory into adulthood, impacting educational attainment, social functioning, and long-term wellbeing. Despite the availability of effective, evidence-based interventions, access to mental health services for children and adolescents remains limited worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and other under-resourced settings. Research has identified a broad range of psychosocial, environmental, and developmental factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of anxiety and depression in youth. However, much of this evidence is derived from studies conducted in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) contexts, raising important questions about its applicability across diverse cultural settings. Cultural context plays a critical role in shaping how mental health difficulties are experienced, expressed, and understood, as well as influencing help-seeking behaviours, stigma, family and community responses, and access to care. This keynote will draw on cross-cultural research to examine both universal and culture-specific mechanisms underlying youth anxiety and depression. It will explore how these insights can inform the cultural adaptation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), with a focus on maintaining core therapeutic principles—such as cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation, and skills training—while enhancing cultural relevance, engagement, and acceptability. Practical examples will illustrate how CBT-based interventions can be adapted across different cultural, educational, and resource contexts. The keynote will also address key challenges in implementing culturally responsive CBT interventions, including barriers and facilitators at the individual, community, and system levels. Emphasis will be placed on strategies to improve accessibility, scalability, and sustainability, particularly within school and community settings. By situating CBT within a broader cultural framework, this keynote highlights the importance of flexible, context-sensitive approaches to ensure that evidence-based interventions remain effective and equitable for diverse populations of young people worldwide.

BIOGRAPHIE

Cecilia A. Essau est professeure de psychopathologie du développement à l’Université de Roehampton, au Royaume-Uni. Elle a récemment reçu le prix « Distinguished Contributions Award » de la section « Psychologie du développement » de la British Psychological Society pour ses contributions durables et substantielles à la recherche, qui ont eu un impact sur la société au sens large. Cecilia a développé un programme (Super Skills for Life ; SSL) qui permet aux enfants et aux adolescents d’acquérir les compétences nécessaires pour gérer des situations qui auraient pu les angoisser et les mettre en difficulté. Grâce à une approche de formation des formateurs, la formation SSL a renforcé les capacités et façonné la pratique de 26 000 praticiens, et a produit des résultats positifs en matière de santé mentale chez environ un million de jeunes dans 23 pays.

Keynote Title: Improving CBT from Molecules to Models

CBT is one of the great success stories of psychiatry. However, we have reached a crisis point because treatment efficacy has not been improving over the last few decades. To overcome this crisis, I will discuss 3 strategies to improve our CBT approach, primarily focused on mood and anxiety disorders. First, insights from translational research and neuroscience can augment existing strategies, even on the molecular level. Second, theory-informed novel therapeutic strategies can enhance treatment success. Third, and perhaps most importantly, we need to revisit and improve some of our basic models and paradigms that serve as the basis for CBT. This may require a radical departure from the latent disease model of the current psychiatric nosology of the DSM/ICD and the absurd proliferation of the protocols-for-syndrome approach. Such a paradigm shift is currently underway, moving toward process-based therapy (PBT). PBT focuses on how to best target and change core biopsychosocial processes in a specific situation for given goals with a given client. This approach recognizes that psychotherapy typically involves non-linear (rather than linear), bidirectional (rather than unidirectional), and dynamic changes of many (rather than only a few) interconnected variables. Effective therapy leads to changes of the entire system toward a stable and adaptive state. This requires gathering high-density longitudinal idiographic data to capture the complexity of psychopathology using a dynamic network approach within the general framework of evolutionary science. I will conclude that CBT can be improved through translational research while embracing an evolutionary model toward psychopathology and treatment change.

Key References:
Hofmann, S. G. (2025). A network control theory of dynamic systems approach to personalize therapy. Behavior Therapy, 56, 199-212. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2024.10.006

Westhoff, M., Berg, M., Reif, A., Rief, W., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024). Major problems in clinical psychological science and how to address them: Introducing a multimodal dynamical network approach. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 48, 791–807 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-024-10487-9

BIOGRAPHIE

Le professeur Stefan G. Hofmann est titulaire de la chaire Alexander von Humboldt de psychologie clinique translationnelle à l’Université Philipps de Marbourg, en Allemagne. Il a été chercheur hautement cité par Clarivate, a été rédacteur en chef de Cognitive Therapy and Research et est le prochain rédacteur en chef de Psychological Bulletin. Il a publié plus de 500 articles de revues à comité de lecture et 20 ouvrages sur les troubles anxieux, les émotions et les pratiques thérapeutiques fondées sur des données probantes.

Le Dr Nikolaos Kazantzis est professeur de psychologie clinique et affilié à l’Unité de recherche en thérapie cognitivo-comportementale (CBTRU ; Melbourne, Australie) et à l’Institut Beck de thérapie cognitivo-comportementale (Philadelphie, États-Unis). Il est largement reconnu comme une figure de proue de la TCC pour ses travaux sur les approches fondées sur des données probantes visant à adapter la relation thérapeutique et, en particulier, à optimiser l’engagement des patients dans les exercices thérapeutiques entre les séances. Les travaux de son équipe, basés sur les modèles conceptuels et les mesures de la CBTRU, ont permis d’obtenir de nombreuses subventions des Instituts nationaux de la santé (NIH) des États-Unis et ont donné lieu à plus de 200 publications scientifiques, six ouvrages destinés aux cliniciens et 19 numéros spéciaux de revues. En 2019, l’Association américaine de psychologie (APA) a décerné à son équipe le prix de l’article le plus téléchargé parmi plus de 4 500 articles publiés dans ses 89 revues. Il est l’ancien rédacteur en chef de Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, est actuellement rédacteur de la collection « CBT : Science into Practice » de Springer Nature et a reçu le prix Beck Scholar du Dr Aaron T. Beck et du Dr Judith S. Beck en reconnaissance de ses contributions scientifiques. Des informations complémentaires sont disponibles à l’adresse suivante : www.nikolaoskazantzis.com, www.cbtru.com, et https://link.springer.com/series/15752/books.

Keynote Title: From Preventing Depression to Promoting Human Flourishing: MBCT Comes of Age

Depression will affect an estimated one billion people worldwide at some point in their lives. We have made extraordinary progress in developing approaches to treatment and prevention. Both cognitive and mindfulness-based therapies have been shown to be as effective as medication, to prevent relapse, and to give people skills that extend well beyond the end of treatment. Clinical guidelines around the world now recommend these approaches. And yet mental health remains a major challange, particularly among young people and those in socioeconomically deprived communities. Specialist psychological therapies, however well-delivered, can only ever reach a fraction of those who need them.

This keynote traces the arc of that progress and asks what comes next. The argument is threefold. First, we need to move beyond treatment to prevention — intervening earlier, and at scale, before depression takes hold. Second, we need to move beyond prevention to flourishing — teaching foundational skills for mental health and a life well lived, not merely the absence of disorder. Third, we need approaches that are accessible, engaging, and inclusive across the full range of life stages and contexts, from schools and workplaces to communities and families.

Drawing on ancient wisdom and the best of modern psychological science, the Mindfulness for Life programme represents one response to this challenge. Organised around levels of learning — systemic, introductory, intermediate, and advanced — it offers a scalable, evidence-informed pathway from managing daily difficulties to living with purpose, resilience, and connection.

A vision for 2050 is a world free from the devastating impacts of depression, where people flourish. This keynote sets out what that vision demands of us as researchers, clinicians, and teachers — and what the evidence suggests is within reach.

Key References:
Montero-Marin, J., van der Velden, A. M., & Kuyken, W. (2024). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy’s untapped potential. JAMA Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.2741

BIOGRAPHIE

Willem Kuykem est professeur Ritblat de pleine conscience et de sciences psychologiques à l’Université d’Oxford, au Royaume-Uni. Ses travaux portent sur la prévention de la dépression, la promotion de la santé mentale et l’épanouissement tout au long de la vie. Il a publié plus de 150 articles et a été classé par Web of Science parmi les 1 % des scientifiques les plus cités au monde en 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 et 2023.

Il est l’auteur de deux ouvrages, Mindfulness for Life (2024) et Mindfulness – Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology (2019) avec Christina Feldman, tous deux publiés par Guilford Press. Ses travaux ont été présentés dans le New York Times, New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American, Times Oprah Daily, Educational Supplement, la BBC, CBS, New Statesman, Le Monde, der Zeit, le Telegraph, le Guardian et de nombreux podcasts. Il vit à Londres.

Keynote title : A review of evidence-based psychological interventions for psychosis

Evidence-based psychological interventions are now a core component of comprehensive care for people with psychosis. The current literature on key approaches, their empirical support, and proposed mechanisms of action will be summarised. Cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is the most extensively studied intervention. Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses show modest but reliable benefits for positive symptoms, distress, functioning, and relapse prevention, particularly when CBTp is provided in addition to antipsychotic medication. Family interventions, typically combining psychoeducation, communication training, and problem-solving, consistently reduce relapse and rehospitalization. Cognitive remediation yields small to moderate improvements in cognition and functional outcomes. Social skills training and supported employment further enhance social and vocational functioning, complementing more symptom-focused therapies. Emerging approaches, including acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, and compassion-focused therapy, show promising effects though the evidence base remains more limited. Overall, the evidence supports routine provision of structured, manualized psychological interventions as part of standard care for psychosis.

BIOGRAPHIE

Je suis professeur de psychologie à l’Université d’Oslo et à l’Université de Liège. Mes recherches portent sur la psychose et ses symptômes spécifiques, tels que les hallucinations et les idées délirantes. J’ai eu le privilège d’utiliser diverses méthodologies, notamment épidémiologiques, expérimentales et longitudinales. Ces travaux ont également permis d’établir des collaborations interdisciplinaires stimulantes avec, par exemple, des anthropologues, des philosophes, des personnes ayant vécu la psychose, ainsi que des spécialistes du cinéma et de la littérature. Ils ont aussi ouvert la voie à l’étude des hallucinations chez d’autres groupes cliniques, comme les patients atteints de démence.
J’ai enseigné dans plusieurs universités, tant sur la psychose, que sur la psychopathologie en général. Mon expérience clinique concerne principalement le travail auprès de personnes souffrant de psychose.

Jozefien De Leersnyder is an Associate Professor at the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology at KU Leuven, Belgium. Over the past decade, she has been studying the interplay between culture, psyche, emotion, and well-being, particularly in changing and diverse social worlds. During her time as an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, she co-developed the Master in Cultural Psychology Program. Jozefien is the editor of “The Cultural Shaping of Emotion” (Cambridge University Press, 2026), contributor to over 50 scientific publications in the fields of cultural, acculturation, emotion and educational psychology, and the recipient of multiple international awards (e.g., IUPsys Young Scholar Award). Currently, her team works on emotion socialization in educational contexts (www.jeztoemotions.be) and on her an ERC-funded project that aims to re-think the process of psychological acculturation (www.pscyhacc.be). Through her membership and Presidency of the Belgian Young Academy (2018-2023) as well as through more applied projects on diversity and equity in education (https://tacklingthegap.be; www.ecdis.be), she aims to contribute to educational environments in which all students can thrive. She combines insights from all these fields into her teaching, such as in her MA-course on ‘Cultural Diversity in Therapy and Care Settings’ and in trainings for practitioners.

Le Dr Pachankis est titulaire de la chaire David R. Kessler de santé publique, de psychiatrie et de psychologie à Yale et directeur de l’Initiative pour la santé mentale LGBTQ de Yale. Ses recherches portent sur la santé mentale des populations LGBTQ aux États-Unis et dans le monde. Il a publié 200 articles scientifiques sur la santé mentale des personnes LGBTQ.

Keynote Title: From Restructuring to Relating: How Compassion Transforms the Therapeutic Process in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

What if the greatest barrier to change isn’t only a distorted belief, but also a harsh inner voice? And what if the therapist, too, is caught in cycles of self-criticism that silently shape the therapeutic encounter? Rather than replacing CBT, Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) offers a powerful framework for enhancing its techniques through the lens of evolved motivational systems. Drawing on evolutionary science, affective neuroscience, and a growing body of meta-analytic evidence, I will illustrate how compassion — understood as a complex, evolved motivational system — can regulate shame and self-criticism, two key transdiagnostic processes often resistant to cognitive restructuring alone. By focusing on both intrapersonal and interpersonal motivational shifts, CFT promotes physiological regulation and deepens emotional processing, thereby facilitating belief and schema change. I will share findings from my research on heart rate variability and psychophysiological responses to compassion-based interventions, highlighting how motivational change precedes and enables cognitive change. Special attention will be given to CFT’s application in LGBTQ+ populations, where shame-based processes are deeply intertwined with social stigma and identity development. This lecture will also briefly highlight the emerging relevance of compassion-focused approaches within psychedelic-assisted therapy, particularly in supporting preparation, emotional safeness, and the integration of difficult or transformative experiences. At the heart of CFT lies a deep awareness of the therapeutic relationship — not only with our clients, but with ourselves. By addressing the shame and self-doubt that arise in our own practice, compassion allows us to embrace our complexity, and become safer, braver spaces for others. Ultimately, this lecture will offer a perspective on how compassion — far from being a soft addition — serves as a scientifically grounded, powerful catalyst for transformation within cognitive therapy.

Petrocchi, N., Kirby, J. N., & Baldi, B. (2024). Essentials of compassion focused therapy: A practice manual for clinicians. Routledge.

Seabra, D., Carvalho, S. A., Gato, J., Petrocchi, N., & Salvador, M. D. C. (2025). (Self)tainted love: Shame and self-criticism as self-discriminatory processes underlying psychological suffering in sexual minority individuals. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 35(5), 714–732. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2024.2333777

BIOGRAPHIE

Niki (Nicola) Petrocchi, Ph. D., est professeure agrégée de psychologie à l’Université John Cabot (Rome) et fondatrice de Compassionate Mind Italia. Elle a publié plus de 100 articles scientifiques et un manuel sur la thérapie centrée sur la compassion. Ses recherches et son enseignement portent sur les fondements psychophysiologiques de la compassion et de la régulation émotionnelle, intégrant les approches CFT et TCC dans des contextes scientifiques et cliniques, avec un intérêt particulier pour les populations de diverses identités de genre.

Professeur, PhD, responsable de la recherche et de l’innovation, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Royaume-Uni, chercheur invité, École de psychologie, Université de Southampton, Royaume-Uni, boursier BABCP

Le professeur Phiri est responsable de la recherche et de l’innovation. Il est également professeur invité à l’École de psychologie de l’Université de Southampton et professeur invité à la Faculté des sciences paramédicales de l’Université de Ruhuna et de l’Université Nnamdi Azikiwe. Infirmier auxiliaire de santé mentale et psychothérapeute cognitivo-comportemental spécialisé, le professeur Phiri possède plus de vingt ans d’expérience clinique au sein du NHS et dans divers contextes de soins.

Consultant en essais cliniques, il est l’auteur de plusieurs ouvrages, dont « Essais cliniques et tribulations » et « Adaptation culturelle de la TCC pour les maladies mentales graves : Guide de formation et de pratique ».

Keynote Title: Digital Mental Health: From Promise to Practice to Pause? 

There are two generations of digital mental health. The first was built by researchers and clinicians asking how to extend the reach of evidence-based therapy. The second is being built by technology companies asking how to make a language model feel like a therapist. The difference between those two questions is the difference between clinical science and product design. Recent statistics suggest AI chatbots may already be the largest unregulated provider of mental health support in the world, yet research shows that these tools systematically fail at core therapeutic tasks, including recognizing suicidal intent and challenging distorted thinking, while their design actively rewards engagement over recovery. Just as social media prompted calls for regulation and independent research, AI in mental health now may demand the same pause. This talk will examine where digital mental health helps, where it may harm, and why practitioners should lead the conversation about what comes next.

BIOGRAPHIE

Ioana R. Podina est professeure de psychologie à l’Université de Bucarest et fondatrice du Laboratoire des sciences cliniques cognitives. Psychothérapeute cognitivo-comportementale agréée et certifiée par l’Institut Albert Ellis (New York), ses recherches portent sur la santé mentale numérique, la linguistique informatique appliquée à la psychopathologie et la survie au cancer, et font l’objet de publications dans des revues internationales de premier plan. Au cours de la dernière décennie, elle a mis au point des interventions pionnières de Thérapies Comportementales et Cognitives gamifiées axées sur les jeunes ainsi que des chatbots de dépistage en santé mentale. De plus en plus impliquée dans l’éthique des technologies émergentes, elle a récemment occupé le poste de Vice-Présidente du groupe d’experts de l’UNESCO sur l’éthique des neurotechnologies. Elle siège actuellement au Comité Éthique et Société (EESC) d’EBRAINS, la plus grande infrastructure de recherche européenne dédiée à l’avancement des sciences du cerveau, où elle élabore des cadres pour le déploiement responsable des innovations neurotechnologiques dans les domaines de la santé et de la santé mentale.

Santé mentale dans la déficience intellectuelle et les troubles du développement : entre héritages et évolutions

Les personnes avec déficience intellectuelle et troubles du développement présentent une prévalence élevée de troubles de santé mentale, ainsi que des inégalités persistantes dans l’accès à des soins adaptés. Pendant longtemps, la santé mentale de ces personnes n’a pas constitué un objet clinique ou de recherche à part entière.

La reconnaissance de ces enjeux s’est progressivement développée, principalement à travers le prisme du « double diagnostic », centré sur l’identification des troubles psychiatriques associés. Cette approche a permis de rendre ces problématiques plus visibles, sans conduire pour autant à une évolution équivalente des repères cliniques disponibles pour l’accompagnement.

Dans le même temps, les pratiques se sont largement structurées autour de l’analyse et de l’accompagnement des comportements, avec des apports importants pour la compréhension des situations et l’organisation des interventions. Cette structuration a contribué à soutenir l’intervention dans de nombreuses situations, tout en laissant en partie ouvertes les questions relatives à la caractérisation des besoins émotionnels des personnes et à leur prise en compte dans l’accompagnement.

Il en résulte un décalage entre la reconnaissance des enjeux de santé mentale et les repères cliniques mobilisés pour les évaluer et les accompagner. Dans ce contexte, il apparaît nécessaire de réinterroger ces repères pour comprendre et intervenir dans ces situations.

Cette contribution vise à présenter différents cadres complémentaires permettant de mieux articuler les dimensions comportementales, émotionnelles et développementales, afin de soutenir des modalités d’accompagnement plus cohérentes et adaptées à la complexité des situations. Les implications pour la pratique clinique et la formation des professionnels sont discutées.

BIOGRAPHIE

Romina Rinaldi, PhD, est maître de conférences et responsable du service d’orthopédagogie clinique à l’université de Mons (Belgique). Elle est titulaire d’un doctorat en sciences psychologiques et éducatives. Elle est l’auteure de “Psychopathology in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: Prevention, Assessment, and Support (Mardaga, 2021)” et co-auteure de la version française de la “Scale of Emotional Development – Short (SED-S) (Hogrefe, à paraître en 2026)”, qui fournit une évaluation standardisée des ressources et des besoins émotionnels des personnes atteintes d’un handicap intellectuel, dans le but d’orienter les pratiques de soutien adaptées. Ses recherches portent sur la santé mentale et la qualité de vie des adultes atteints d’un handicap intellectuel.

From Idiographic Case Formulation to Evidence-Based Transdiagnostic CBT in Real-World Settings

Cognitive and behavioral therapies are most often delivered as disorder-specific protocols or branded packages combining multiple techniques. Although widely regarded as gold-standard treatments because of strong empirical support, the meta-analytic evidence base is more heterogeneous than this picture suggests: treatment effects vary substantially across disorders, interventions, and control conditions; risk of bias and publication bias affect parts of the literature; dropout rates approach 25% depending on the disorder; and reported outcomes typically reflect treatment completers from WEIRD settings. Despite decades of mechanism research, no specific mediator of change in CBT has been firmly established, and recent methodological work indicates that group-level mediation findings may not legitimately generalize to the individual client.

Across populations in Europe and beyond, real-world complexity and comorbidity are the norm. Diagnoses and protocols offer a shared language but do not always capture the clinical picture the client presents. Treatment delivery becomes especially challenging in cross-cultural contexts and with populations affected by mass trauma events such as wars, political violence, gender-based violence, and natural disasters.

This keynote argues that idiographic case formulation is essential for translating evidence-based interventions into individualized clinical decision-making in real-world practice. A functional, mechanism-oriented approach to formulation enables clinicians to identify the specific factors maintaining each client’s presentation across cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and contextual domains, and to select, sequence, and adapt interventions on that basis rather than by diagnostic label alone. Drawing on translational research and clinical data from routine cases as well as complex presentations involving survivors of mass trauma in non-Western settings, the talk will illustrate how outcomes depend on the mechanisms targeted, the interventions selected, and the cultural and contextual fit of therapy. Cross-cultural effectiveness, in particular, depends less on culturally branded protocols and more on the clinician’s capacity to identify and intervene on functionally relevant mechanisms in context.

BIOGRAPHIE

Ebru Şalcıoğlu est une thérapeute comportementale et chercheuse reconnue pour ses travaux sur les thérapies cognitives et comportementales fondées sur des données probantes, notamment sur la formulation de cas idiographiques et les stratégies d’intervention transdiagnostiques. Son expérience clinique et de recherche couvre les pathologies liées aux traumatismes, les troubles anxieux, les troubles du spectre obsessionnel-compulsif, le deuil prolongé et les troubles du comportement alimentaire, en particulier chez les survivants de guerre, de torture, de catastrophes naturelles et de violences interpersonnelles. Elle a publié de nombreux ouvrages sur les mécanismes et le traitement des traumatismes et est l’auteure d’un ouvrage reconnu sur la formulation de cas et la planification thérapeutique, ainsi que co-auteure d’un ouvrage clinique sur le traitement comportemental des traumatismes de guerre et de torture.

Keynote Title: The mental health trap of poverty

Poverty cuts lives short. It brings death closer, obstructs self-realisation, wears down the body, and gives rise to mental disorders. The stress of financial scarcity is chronic and heavy, pressing down day after day. Despite the remarkable resilience of many people living in poverty, poverty remains a deep experience of vulnerability, invisibility, and powerlessness. It is hardly surprising, then, that poverty has psychological consequences.

A context of scarcity shapes how people feel, think, and act. As a result, people living in poverty sometimes make more rational decisions than those from wealthier classes, yet at other times less rational ones. These create a psychological trap, making it even harder to escape poverty through individual effort alone. Poverty is also a convergence of risk factors for mental disorders: chronic stress, disrupted sleep, stigma, violence. Anxiety and depression occur up to three times more often among people living in poverty.

We will see how poverty and mental disorders reinforce one another, tightening the trap still further. I will argue that only a combined approach—addressing both poverty and psychological suffering—can produce lasting change. Without tackling material deprivation, psychotherapy remains fragile; without psychological care, poverty reduction remains incomplete. 

KEY REFERENCES: 
Ridley, M. W., Rao, G., Schilbach, F., & Patel, V. H. (2020). Poverty, Depression, and Anxiety: Causal Relationships and Mechanisms. Science, 383, eadp1916. DOI: 10.1126/science.adp1916

Haushofer, J., & Salicath, D. (2023). The psychology of poverty: where do we stand? Social Philosophy and Policy, 40, 150-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052523000419

BIOGRAPHIE

Bram Vervliet est professeur à la KU Leuven, en Belgique, où il mène des recherches translationnelles sur l’extinction de la peur. Il est rédacteur associé de Behaviour Research and Therapy et auteur de plus de 150 articles sur la peur et l’anxiété. Ses recherches récentes portent sur l’anxiété et la dépression en situation de pauvreté, en étudiant comment la rareté (« ne pas avoir assez ») affecte les processus cognitifs et affectifs qui renforcent le piège de la pauvreté.