José Leoncio Areal, trustee-secretary of the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation, and Dr. María Concepción Guisasola, its scientific coordinator, presented the Foundation's 13th Scientific Conference during a press conference held at the headquarters of PROA Comunicación. The conference will be held on 25 and 26 October at the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid. In this edition, the presentations and round tables will focus on 'Mental health in adolescence (13-17 years): Healthy development, risks and opportunities', thus closing the cycle that began two years ago, when the Foundation decided to address mental health in the different stages of the life cycle of children and adolescents.
This vital period, reported the Foundation's scientific coordinator, is one of the most productive stages of life, "but not all development during these years is positive, especially given the increasingly digitalised and competitive environment in which most of our adolescents live". Among the most frequent mental disorders at this time, the doctor pointed to "anxiety, depression, alcohol and substance abuse or eating disorders", often caused by the search for self-identity. She placed special emphasis on cyber-bullying, a phenomenon that has appeared with technological advances and the irruption of social networks and which will also be addressed at the conference. The doctor cited as an example a Microsoft report that shows that 37% of users aged 8 to 17 worldwide have declared themselves to be victims of cyberbulling, and 24% to be the perpetrators of cyberbullying.
He also added interesting data such as the fact that 25% of the world's population is adolescent and that 40% of pregnancies in this age group are unwanted. In this regard, he stressed that "today's adolescents will be the parents of the next generation and they are not aware of how alcohol, for example, affects the mental health of the foetus".
The Alicia Koplowitz Foundation has 175 scholarship holders specialising in psychiatry, a speciality that only Spain and Bulgaria lack in the European Union. However, Dr Guisasola is hopeful that by 2020 it will have been introduced into the curriculum, given that "the Ministry of Education recognised it last January".
The 13th Scientific Conference of the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation will be opened by Dr. María Concepción Guisasola, who will give a brief introductory talk on adolescence, and will feature five round tables, two keynote lectures and a conference of scholarship holders, as well as the award ceremony for the Research Project Grants, which will be given by the President of the Foundation, Mrs. Alicia Koplowitz.
The first keynote lecture, in the late morning of Thursday 25th, will be given by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Deputy Director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in London, who will enlighten the audience on 'Adolescence as a sensitive period for the social development of the brain'. She will be presented by Dr. Gisela Sugranyes, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona.
The round tables will be attended by renowned professionals such as Dr. Susana Monereo, Dr. Javier Urra, Dr. Marta Rapado, Professor Dr. Verónica de Miguel Luken, Dr. Rosa Calvo, psychologist Dr. Patricia Escriva Martínez, Dr. Josep Matali, Dr. Dolores Mosquera Barral, Dr. Hilario Blasco Fontecilla, Professor Dr. Pedro Manuel Ruiz Lázaro, Dr. Cristina de la Cuerda, Dr. Luis Beato, Dr. María Mayoral, Dr. Blanca Reneses, Dr. María de Gracia Domínguez and the president of Adaner (Association for the Defence of Anorexia Nervosa Care), Josefa Aymat Molina. They will address issues such as hormonal changes in puberty and the psychosexual aspects linked to them, risk behaviours (conduct disorders and transgressions), affective-sexual education in the 21st century (gender violence, sexuality in adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders), the reward system and risk behaviours (new technologies, self-harming behaviours), eating disorders and the transition to adulthood.
The scholarship holders' conference, which will open the afternoon of the first day, will be given by Dr. Laia Villalta, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, 0 to 5 years Unit and Functional Unit of attention to child sexual abuse (UFAM) of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona and former scholarship holder of the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation. She will be presented by Dr. Marta Casanovas, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Esplugues (Barcelona) and also a former fellow of the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation, and will speak on 'Emotional dysregulation and trauma in adolescents'.
The meeting will conclude late on Friday morning with a keynote lecture by José Antonio Marina, professor and doctor of Philosophy, pedagogue and writer, who will speak on 'The talent of adolescents. The second golden age of learning', after being introduced by Dr. Luisa Lázaro, head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona.