Advancing Psychosomatic Medicine in a Challenging World

Stephan Zipfel ^1,2* Rebecca Erschens ¹ Ruth Becker ^1,2 Katrin Giel ^1,2

• ¹ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Tübingen University Hospital, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• ² German Centre of Mental Health (DZPG), Tübingen, Germany

participants from over 30 countries and 6 continents our event was truly global. Europe and the USA were well represented, and Asia, particularly Japan, China and Korea, also sent strong delegations. Our scholarship programmes targeted support for colleagues from the global south and in particular from crisis regions. We actively encouraged colleagues from low and lower-middle income countries to participate and were able to involve colleagues from Ukraine (e.g. from Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University) in the congress through targeted scholarship programmes.The ICPM Programme Committee was also determined to actively involve early-career scientists (ECS) in the congress design and programme. We worked closely with the German College of Psychosomatic Medicine (DKPM) and invited the current year of the 'Clinical Research' qualification programme to our congress. This was a resounding success, with the ECS playing a leading role in contributing to the programme. Thanks to the financial support of two Foundations for Psychosomatic Medicine, we awarded additional scholarships to young scientists from Germany and abroad, enabling them to travel to and participate in the congress. The programme covered numerous facets of Psychosomatic Medicine, always with a special focus on particular challenges, but of course also on ways and innovations to meet these adequately.As part of the programme, a series of academic events were held, including 15 lectures, 31 symposia, 11 short lecture sessions, 7 masterclasses and 2 poster sessions with 100 posters presented and discussed by participants from a global bio-psycho-social community. Masterclasses were an important contribution to the congress which was especially appreciated by ECS. In this context, close contact between experienced researchers and clinicians and young colleagues is particularly helpful for the transfer of knowledge and career coaching. We presented the special features of the well-developed discipline of Psychosomatic Medicine in Germany, including the German College of Psychosomatic Medicine, founded in 1974 and celebrating its 50th birthday in the congress year 2024. For over 25 years, there has been an independent specialist and psychosomatic medical association (DGPM) in Germany, with more than 280 psychosomatic hospitals, independent psychosomatic departments and more than 4120 practising psychosomatic specialists (1). The establishment of the German Centre for Mental Health (DZPG) is now promoting research into and improvement of the translational care of people with mental illnesses in Germany (2). The Tübingen site of the DZPG has therefore also supported the ICPM congress.We contrasted this with the sometimes very difficult care situation in other countries, inviting prominent researchers in our field and related disciplines to speak in numerous lectures and present Achieving global sustainability goals requires technical innovations and political measures, as well as changes in people's everyday behaviour, including in relation to energy consumption, mobility and patterns of consumption. We addressed the issue of climate change and its impact on physical and mental health, placing a strong emphasis on "Planetary health and social transformation with regard to climate issues" with a Key Lecture by Christina Demski (University of Bath, UK), and other international experts also contributed to this topic.But we also looked at current topics in our field, such as the possibilities of using enhanced psychotherapy to treat patients with psychosomatic illnesses even more successfully (6). This also included recent study results on the health issues of SaRS Cov-2 (7), psycho-oncology and low-threshold interventions in somatic clinics (8).In addition, the discourse centred around the utilisation of digital tools and artificial intelligence to enhance targeted and effective treatment for patients with mental illnesses. Additionally, there was exploration into the fostering of interprofessional communication and the development of professional identities in student education (9), particularly for future psychosomatic doctors and other healthcare professionals.Overall, it was a great pleasure and honour to host the ICPM Congress in Tübingen, for the second time in Germany. As this congress is held every two years in a different country and most times even on a different continent, it is truly international in its character and offers valuable opportunities to meet scientists and clinicians from all over the world. Psychosomatic Medicine is very differently embedded into the health care system internationally, so discussions and exchange of ideas were very lively and broadening the horizons (10).