Press

Contact the ECNP Press Office

The ECNP Press Officer, Tom Parkhill, can be reached via: press@ecnp.eu  
For urgent enquiries, call him on +39 349 238 8191 or call the ECNP Office on +31 88 756 9555. 
Office hours are 09.00 to 17.30 (CET), Monday to Friday. 

About ECNP

The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) is a pan-European body which works to ensure that advances in the understanding of brain function and human behaviour are translated into better treatments and better public health. ECNP draws its membership from psychiatry, neuroscience, and many other disciplines. The ECNP annual congress attracts up to 6000 delegates, and is the largest European congress on major psychiatry and neuroscience. The ECNP can give specialist press comment on subjects related to mental health and neuroscience including:

• The state of mental health in Europe
• Drugs and addiction
• Bipolar disorder (previously called manic depression)
• Anxiety and depression
• Stress, including post-traumatic stress
• Brain imaging
• ADHD
• Dementia
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder  

Information for the public

Please note that there is no-one in our office who is medically qualified and we are unable to give any medical advice. Because of this, we are not allowed to accept calls from patients.  

Media opportunities at the ECNP Congress

Every year the ECNP press team promotes selected research presented at the ECNP Annual Congress. This tends to get good international press coverage – in 2017 our work was featured by the likes of The Observer, Huffington Post, The Sun, The Telegraph, CBS, NBC News, Agence France Press, Bild, Times of India, etc. The work needs to be newsworthy and based on good science or be clinically important, meaning that we only promote around 8 to 10 items each year from a much larger initial selection. If you would be interested in having us consider your abstract as part of our media programme, please indicate that on the abstract submission form. 

Recent and notable press releases

32nd ECNP Congress, 7-10 September 2019, Copenhagen

Speaking your mind”: analysis locates brain areas for understanding metaphors in healthy and schizophrenic people

Study shows 1/3 of young children admitted to intensive care for sepsis show PTSD symptoms years later

Deep magnet stimulation shown to improve symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder

Study locates brain areas for understanding metaphors in healthy and schizophrenic people

Children of anxious mothers twice as likely to have hyperactivity in adolescence

Scientists find psychiatric drugs affect gut contents

Snips and snails or sugar and spice? Research shows puberty changes the brains of boys and girls differently

The fast and the curious: fitter adults have fitter brains

ADHD medication: how much is too much for a hyperactive child?

Why don’t the drugs work? Research shows controlling inflammation can make antidepressants more effective

11 June 2019
Inga Neumann wins 2019 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award

06 March 2019
Scientists unveil plans to identify common social and cognitive elements in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Depression, Schizophrenia  (PRISM Project)

2 October 2018
Why do some get depressed and others don’t? Clues from the “winter blues”

26 March 2018
Marion Leboyer wins 2018 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award

8 November 2017
World’s first prize for “negative” scientific results announced 

31st ECNP Congress, 6-9 October 2018, Barcelona

Study shows diet and weight may affect response to bipolar disorder treatment

Pregnant women recognise baby facial expressions and cries differently depending on their mental health history

Gene which decreases risk of social network-related stress, increases finance-related stress risk

Research shows club drug GHB associated with brain and cognitive changes

Study shows DNA of people with childhood abuse or depression ages faster

Sexual abuse as a child changes the body’s biochemical response to stress

European researchers set out priorities for dealing with problem internet use

30th ECNP Congress, 2-5 September 2017, Paris

Sunday 3 September 2017

• Is ADHD really a sleep problem?  (watch the webcast)
• Pilot study shows that neurofeedback may help treatment-resistant depression
• Financial stress is associated with migraine, if you have specific circadian gene variants

Monday 4 September 2017

• Alterations in blood-based miRNA in veterans affected with combat-related PTSD
• Heavy alcohol use alters brain functioning differently in young men and women    

Tuesday 5 September 2017 

• Study shows coping skills affect women’s anxiety levels
• Scientists discover brain area which can be targeted for treatment in patients with schizophrenia who ‘hear voices’
• Study shows contrasting long-term cognitive effects of psychiatric drugs in schizophrenia 

Thursday 7 September 2017 

• What makes alcoholics drink? Research shows it’s more complex than supposed
  

Media coverage

Blood test for PTSD on horizon as scientists find genetic changes in traumatised soldiers (The Telegraph, UK)

PTSD screening breakthrough: Soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder could be diagnosed with a simple blood test, research claims (The Sun)

A Breakthrough Discovery Could Let Us Diagnose PTSD Using A Blood Test (Huffington Post, UK)

ADHD and sleep (CBS News)

Stress and the Clock gene (Newsweek)

April 2017

Michel Hamon wins 2017 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award

March 2017
Scientists show cognitive enhancing drugs can improve chess play

November 2016
Study suggests prescribing of baclofen for alcohol dependence “should be reconsidered”

29th ECNP  Congress, 17-20 September 2016, Vienna, Austria

• High status job means you are less likely to respond to treatment for depression
• Study shows that opioids may affect how we perceive ‘cuteness’ of babies
• Why don’t antidepressants work in some patients? Mouse study shows it may be down to your environment    
• Study shows lack of interest in sex successfully treated by exposure to bright light
• Study measures effects of beer on psychosocial and sexual attitudes
• Hormone EPO (also used as a doping drug) can help with bipolar disorder
• Neuroscience may explain the ‘freezing’ reaction when scared
• Tourette’s patients are not aggressive, as people think
• Reason antidepressants often don’t work may be due to your circumstances
• Cancer deaths doubled in men who are anxious (large UK study)
• Internet addiction may be a sign of other mental health problems
• Neuroscience may vindicate 200 year old Art theory (from Immanuel Kant)         

Media coverage

Los Angeles Times: For those in posh jobs, depression may be harder to treat

Newswise report

Hormone EPO can help with mental health – UPI report on ECNP Vienna

Study shines a light on low winter-time male libido

Reuters: Study shines a light on low winter-time male libido

Beer, sex and the Simpsons in New York News

Severe anxiety doubles cancer death rate in men 

Internet addiction may indicate other mental health problems - study

Internet addiction may be red flag for other mental health issues

Internet Addiction May Be Red Flag for Other Mental Health Issues: Study

The internet and social media is leaving young people 'more at risk of mental health problems'

Internet Addiction May Be Red Flag for Other Mental Health Issues ...

Spanish
¿Qué otros problemas esconde la adicción a Internet?

Las personas con el síndrome de Tourette no son más agresivas que los demás, según un estudio

German
Sehen wir Kunst anders?  
 

April 2016
Major mental health project aims to uncover root causes of social withdrawal 

28th ECNP Congress, 28 August-1 September 2015:

“But doctor, I’m not ill”: research finds relation between marker of brain cell dysfunction and awareness of illness in psychotic patients

Women in poor areas twice as likely to develop clinical anxiety as men

Clinical trial shows first treatment for ‘emotional flatness’ associated with schizophrenia

Research shows testosterone changes brain structures in female-to-male transsexuals

Psychotic patients distinguished from controls while watching movie Alice in Wonderland 

Study shows that food may be addictive: research indicates food craving is ‘hard-wired’ in the brain

Can you avoid hangovers after heavy drinking? 

Scientists show how magnetic pulses change the brain in treatment for depressed patients: may open door to individualised treatment

How can we prevent suicide? Major study shows suicide risk factors associated with depression

A single cocaine dose lowers perceptions of sadness and anger

August 2015:
Systematic review shows ‘smart drug’ modafinil does enhance cognition

July 2015:
ECNP special news feature: interview Tom Insel

Mary Baker wins the 2015 ECNP Media Award

March 2015:
Francesc Artigas’s exceptional research contributions to depression and schizophrenia recognised by the 2015 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award

October 2014:
27th ECNP Congress, Berlin 

Dick Swaab wins the 2014 ECNP Media Award

November 2013:
ECNP in the news:
David Nutt wins the 2013 John Maddox Prize
for Standing up for Science

Spring 2013:
ECNP in the news:
International collaboration to address new
approach to psychiatric drug nomenclature 
Joseph Zohar, President of the ECNP

8 May 2012: 
The Science Media Centre, London, wins the 2012 ECNP Media Award  

5 September 2011:
The Size and Burden of Mental Disorders in Europe

ECNP announces the release of the ECNP/EBC Report on Size and Burden of Mental Disorders in Europe 2011.

For the full press release in English, click here.
To read the full report, click here.

14 June 2011:
Funding crisis threatens development of new treatments for mental illness

ECNP announces the release of the Report on the ECNP Summit on the future of CNS drug research in Europe 2011.

On 14 June ECNP released the report, prepared by David Nutt and Guy Goodwin, of its Summit meeting of key European neuroscience stakeholders on the future of CNS drug research in Europe.

For the full press release in English, click here.

For the full press release in French, click here.

For the full press release in German, click here.

For the full press release in Spanish, click here.

To listen to the Summit Report press briefing at the Science Media Centre in London on 13 June, with David Nutt, Guy Goodwin and Alastair Benbow (European Brain Council), here.