Dear colleagues and friends,

As the new president of ESSPD, I would like to take the opportunity to share some news with you.

At the general membership meeting in October 2020, Stephan Doering stepped down as president of the ESSPD. Stephan did an excellent job in leading our society over the last years, a heartful thank you to Stephan for his contribution and dedication!

Let me also extend our gratitude to our colleagues who left the board during the last term: Lars Mehlum, Sebastian Simonsen, Joaquim Soler, and Paul Moran.

Information on our new board members Christian Schmahl, Chiara de Panfilis and Bo Bach can be found here. In our current newsletter you will find statements of old and new members how they see their work for the society. We would also like to draw your attention to the role of social factors in personality disorders as described  in our latest newsletter.

It was with great regret that we had to cancel our congress in Antwerp this year because of the pandemic. We value the personal exchange and communication very highly, therefore, we are currently planning the next conference in October 2022. Our aim is to extend the limits of traditional thinking in science and clinical care by creating a platform for an innovative discussion among researchers, clinicians, members of our health care systems, as well as patients and relatives. Therefore, our motto

Change for a better future: Perspectives beyond symptoms – Helping patients to build a life worth living as well as the venue will stay the same. Please save the new date October 10-12, 2022 in your schedules.

For the Antwerp conference, we had planned a discussion on euthanasia and assisted suicide in people with personality disorders emerging from the article we published (more information). We hold this discussion as an online event on January 26, 2021. You can find a video of the webinar here.

Among our activities, please note our workshops on personality disorders skills training for effective treatment with leading experts of the field. The next workshop conference will be held in beautiful Riga, Latvia in June 2021.

Please also note that the ESSPD promotes and supports young researchers in the field. We all are looking forward to the second ESSPD Summer school in Crêt-Bérard, Switzerland in August 2021.

The ESSPD is expanding the communication ways with you. While we are positive that we can meet in person in Antwerp in 2022, we are preparing for alternative ways to spread news and to provide you with the state-of-the-art research and treatment developments:

Follow us on Twitter: @ESSPD

Join the discussion in closed ESSPD members’ group

We all are facing huge challenges with the ongoing pandemic and other societal changes.  At ESSPD, we count on the activities and input of our members to adapt to the changes.

It is with optimism that I am looking forward to my presidency and the tasks ahead.

Babette Renneberg