Celebrating 60 Years of Social Psychiatry at the 25th World Congress of Social Psychiatry

SECOND THOUGHTS

My inaugural column in Psychiatric Times was called “Social Psychiatry Comes of Age” and my fellow Psychiatric Times columnist, H. Steven Moffic, MD, affirmed that, “All Psychiatrists Are Social Psychiatrists!”

Along the way, I have covered many themes in social psychiatry, from the social determinants of health (SDoH) and several columns on what I call “terms of the social,” to social polarization, family or relational therapy, second thoughts about assisted suicide and euthanasia, and more recently, featuring the work of the APA Council on International Psychiatry and Global Health which I chair, and my call for the spiritual determinants of health and mental health.

Now, almost 50 columns later, as outgoing President of the World Association of Social Psychiatry (WASP), I want to spotlight 2 highlights of WASP’s activities.

WASP Celebrates More Than 60 Years of Social Psychiatry

The latest issue of our WASP journal, World Social Psychiatry (WSP), May-August 2025 celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of WASP by Joshua Bierer in London, UK,documented in other recent publications about the history of WASP and a profile of our founder.^1,2 The WASP Executive Committee served as guest editors—with myself as president, and lead guest editor, president-elect Rakesh Chadda, MD; treasurer Yasser Khazaal, MD; and secretary general Andrew Molodynski, MD.

As I said in my guest editorial for that issue, “From the Individual to the Social to the Individual in Social Context in 60 Years,” in our 60 years as a movement for social psychiatry, we have moved from a focus on the “three I’s” of Western psychiatry (a focus on the individual, using introspection as a method, and insight as a therapeutic goal) to an emphasis on society and family and social relations with 2 branches of social psychiatry. The first is what I call our “basic science”: epidemiological studies of the health of populations, notably the WHO’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH).^3,4 The second branch is the community psychiatry and mental health movement. We are now entering a more comprehensive framework of seeing the individual in social context with my call for a clinical social psychiatry. This integrates various allied movements such as person-centered medicineand values-based health and social carewith the insights of social psychiatry.⁵ The third branch of social psychiatry is what I call the relational therapies, ranging from couples, family, and group therapies (largely a product of the Global North) to community and social therapies from Brazil and the Global South.^4,6 John Farnsworth, MA(Hons), DPhil, MANZPA, MACPNZAP, MAANZPA, a sociologist and senior psychotherapist from New Zealand, elevated this theme with a call for “Relational Psychiatry – A New Future for the Profession?”

The articles of our special issue ranged from “Psychosocial Challenges for Children and Youth Over the Past50 Years” by Andy Pumariega, MD, and associates to “The Social Determinants of Health” by Elvis Gyan, MD, and Dilip Jeste, MD. An article about “The Early Career Psychiatrist and the Digital World” was penned by Maria Bernadett Carandang, MD, the chair of the WASP Speciality Section on Early Career Psychiatrists. Past WASP President, Rachid Bennegadi, MD, wrote about social psychiatry and migration, and the Council of Past Presidents, chaired by Roy A. Kallivayalil, MD, included reminiscences from all the living past presidents on the history of WASP and social psychiatry.

Along with articles and letters of solidarity from allied organizations (President Danuta Wasserman, MD, World Psychiatric Association; Michel Botbol, MD, and Maria Ammon, PhD, President and Past President of the World Association of Dynamic Psychiatry; President César Alfonso, MD, and President-Elect Alma Jiminez, MD, of the World Federation for Psychotherapy), there were contributions from several member societies (Alejandra Maddocks, MD, Argentina; Charles Bonsack, MD, and associates from Switzerland, and myself from Canada). Besides the guest editorial, I contributed to 2 features of our journal in this issue – “Luminaries in Social Psychiatry” with a profile of my mentor Raymond Prince, MD, MSc, FRCPC, my mentor in social and transcultural psychiatry at McGill University and pioneer in those fields; and a Book Review of Matthew Smith’s The First Resort: The History of Social Psychiatry in the United States, a scholarly review of social psychiatry and the community mental health movement in the US.⁷

Finally, our journal, World Social Psychiatry, has been in continuous publication since 2019.Coedited by Debasish Basu, MD, and Nitin Gupta, MD, both from India, it represents our major footprint for scholarly explorations of social psychiatry. During my triennium as president, WASP has had other publishing highlights including several textbooks and a profile of luminaries in social psychiatry (see Resources below).

The 25th World Congress of Social Psychiatry in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 15-17, 2026

At the 25th World Congress of Social Psychiatry which took place in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 15 to 17, we had participants from 40 countries, a dozen WASP member societies and affiliates and many of our specialty sections. My chosen theme was “Caring for the Vulnerable: Making Social Psychiatry Clinically Relevant,” which was also the theme of my Presidential Address.

We had a stellar series of plenary presentations including past and present WASP leaders who reflected on our over 60years of continuing functioning since our foundation in London, UK:

• Plenary I – WASP 60th Anniversary (1964-2024) Special Symposium: “Celebrating 60 Years of WASP, Looking Forward to the Future of Social Psychiatry”
• Co-chairs: Vincenzo Di Nicola, MD, WASP President (Canada), Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, MD, Chair of the WASP Council of Past Presidents (India); Panelists: WASP Past Presidents: Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva, MD (Brazil), Shridhar Sharma, MD (India), Driss Moussaoui, MD (Morocco), Tom Craig, MD(UK), Roy A Kallivayalil, MD(India), Rachid Bennegadi, MD (France), WASP President-Elect, Rakesh K Chadda, MD (India), Next President-Elect, Andrew Molodynski, MD (UK).

Outstanding plenaries and symposia included:

• Plenary Address – Prof. Norman Sartorius, MD, PhD, FRCPsych (Switzerland). Prof. Norman Sartorius, described as “psychiatry’s living legend,” is former director of the WHO’s Division of Mental Health, president of the World Psychiatric Association and the European Psychiatric Association.⁸ “Caring for Carers: A Priority for Mental Health Care.”
• Yves Pelicier Prize Ceremonial Lecture – Prof. Dinesh Bhugra, MD, CBE (UK). Prof. Dinesh Bhugra, known for his work on mental health and diversity, is past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK) and the World Psychiatric Association. “To Cure Sometimes, To Comfort Always: Foolishness of the Past and Wisdom of the Future in Social Psychiatry.”
• Keynote Address by a psychiatrist-in-training – Samra Zafar, MD (Canada). “Unseen and Unheard: Reclaiming Vulnerability in Clinical Psychiatry. From Margins to Medicine — A Journey Toward Intersectional Care for the Most Overlooked.” Dr Zafar is a resident in psychiatry at the University of Toronto and shared a personal narrative of her life and the process of becoming a psychiatrist. A moving and important new voice in our field!
• President-Elect Address – Prof.Rakesh K Chadda (India). “Social Psychiatry: Emerging Societal Challenges.” Prof. Chadda gave a magisterial overview of the societal challenges and areas of growth for social psychiatry.
• Symposium: “Should Social Psychiatrists Be Concerned About Social Injustice? Presenters: Hasanen Ali Al-Taiar, MD (UK), Vincenzo Di Nicola, MD (Canada), Norman Sartorius, MD (Switzerland). Our overview of the issues of social injustice and the argument for social activism led to a passionate and informed exchange with the congress audience.

With the closing ceremony of the 25th World Congress, I passed on the WASP Presidential medallions to our new president, Rakesh Chadda, MD (India). His new Executive Committee for the next triennium consists of secretary general Rama Rao Gogineni, MD (US), treasurer Yasser Khazaal (Switzerland), and president-elect Andrew Molodynski (UK). I will take on a new role as presidential advisor along with Roy A. Kallivayalil, MD (India).

Finally, we seized the opportunity of our 60th anniversary celebrations at our 25th World Congress to announce The Marrakesh Manifesto which I cowrote with Professor Norman Sartorius, MD, PhD, FRCPsych. Prof. Sartorius is a longstanding champion of social psychiatry and a key patron of WASP and our mission for social psychiatry. As noted, he has been declared “psychiatry’s living legend” by The Lancet because of his deep involvement with world psychiatry.

The Marrakesh Manifesto

On the occasion of the25th World Congress of Social Psychiatry, celebrating 60 years promoting social psychiatry, the WASP, with its national and international partners, reaffirms that social psychiatry is a branch of medicine that:

• provides help to individuals who experience mental illness, suffering, and distress,recognizing the social context and social determinants of health;
• attends to and employs social determinants in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders, and in the rehabilitation of those with mental illness;
• contributes to the development of a healthy society, which protects and respectsindividuals in society, facilitating the full expression of their personhood realized in family, communal, and social interdependence;
• highlights the need for equitable access to health and social care, addressing mind, body, and social relations.

Health care must include social care, and thus,

All psychiatry is social psychiatry.

Resources

Here are some WASP and other resources about social psychiatry:

• WASP Website: https://waspsocialpsychiatry.org/
• WASP journal – World Social Psychiatry: https://journals.lww.com/wpsy/pages/default.aspx
• WASP Textbook on Social Psychiatry: https://academic.oup.com/book/46581
• Gogineni RR, Pumariega AJ, Kallivayalil R, et al, eds. The WASP Textbook on Social Psychiatry: Historical, Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Perspectives. Oxford University Press; 2023.⁹
• Chadda RK, Kumar V, Sarkar S, et al. Social Psychiatry: Principles and Clinical Perspectives. 2nd ed. Jaypee Brothers/Indian Psychiatric Society; 2024.¹⁰
• Kallivayalil RA, Gogineni RR, Akhtar S, eds. The Glow of Synthesis: Twelve Beacons of Light in Social Psychiatry. Jaypee Brothers; 2025.²
• Bhugra D, Moussaoui D, Craig TJ. Oxford Textbook of Social Psychiatry. Oxford University Press; 2022.¹¹ This outstanding textbook is not a WASP publication although the editors include 2 past WASP presidents (Driss Moussaoui and Tom Craig) and this year’s recipient of WASP’s prestigious Yves Pelicier Prize (Dinesh Bhugra).

Dr Di Nicola is a child psychiatrist, family psychotherapist, and philosopher in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he is professor of psychiatry & addictology at the University of Montreal. He is also clinical professor of psychiatry & behavioral health at The George Washington University and past president of the World Association of Social Psychiatry (WASP). Dr Di Nicola has received numerous national and international awards, honorary professorships, and fellowships. Of note, Dr Di Nicola was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (FCAHS), given the Distinguished Service Award of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and is a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists (FACPsych) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC). His work straddles psychiatry and psychotherapy on one side and philosophy and poetry on the other. Dr Di Nicola’s publications include: A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families and Therapy (WW Norton, 1997), Letters to a Young Therapist (Atropos Press, 2011), and Psychiatry in Crisis: At the Crossroads of Social Sciences, the Humanities, and Neuroscience (with D. Stoyanov; Springer Nature, 2021).

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to Prof. Emeritus Driss Moussaoui, MD, of Casablanca, Morocco who chaired the National Organizing Committee for our World Congress; Prof. Rakesh K. Chadda, MD, of New Delhi, India who was my co-chair of the International Scientific Committee; and Prof. Norman Sartorius, MD, PhD, who contributed actively throughout the World Congress and cowrote The Marrakesh Manifesto.

References

1. Kallivayalil RA, Kastrup M, Gogineni RR, et al. History of social psychiatry and historical aspects of the World Association of Social Psychiatry. In: Gogineni RR, Pumariega AJ, Kallivayalil R, et al, eds. The WASP Textbook on Social Psychiatry: Historical, Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Perspectives. Oxford University Press; 2023:9-22.

2. Kallivayalil RA, Gogineni RR, Akhtar S, eds. The Glow of Synthesis: Twelve Beacons of Light in Social Psychiatry. Jaypee Brothers; 2025.

3. Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Executive summary. World Health Organization. August 27, 2008.

4. Di Nicola V. Review article—“A person is a person through other persons”: A Social Psychiatry manifesto for the 21st century. World Social Psychiatry. 2019;1(1):8-21.

5. Miles A, Mezzich J. The care of the patient and the soul of the clinic: person-centered medicine as an emergent model of modern clinical practice. Int J Pers Cent Med. 2011;1(2):207-222.

6. Di Nicola V. The Global South: an emergent epistemology for social psychiatry. World Social Psychiatry. 2020;2(1):20-26.

7. Smith M. The First Resort: The History of Social Psychiatry in the United States. Columbia University Press; 2023.

8. Lane R. Norman Sartorius: psychiatry's living legend. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019;6(10):811-812.

9. Gogineni RR, Pumariega AJ, Kallivayalil R, et al, eds. The WASP Textbook on Social Psychiatry: Historical, Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Perspectives. Oxford University Press; 2023.

10. Chadda RK, Kumar V, Sarkar S, et al, eds. Social Psychiatry: Principles and Clinical Perspectives. 2nd ed. Jaypee Brothers/Indian Psychiatric Society; 2024.

11. Bhugra D, Moussaoui D, Craig TJ, eds. Oxford Textbook of Social Psychiatry. Oxford University Press; 2022.