The personal and economic burdens of mental ill-health are huge. World Health Organization studies show that the burdens of early deaths and loss of productive working life from brain diseases exceed those of other diseases, while a recent review has highlighted the costs across Europe – costs that are too widely ignored. But cutting-edge genetics, neuroscience, psychology and other disciplines are gradually revealing the biological roles of genes and of environmental influences on the development of our brains and the illnesses that can arise. Meanwhile social scientists are uncovering social and cultural factors in, for example, children’s disorders such as ADHD, and are also investigating the impacts and causes of the stigma of mental illness. In this session, four of Europe’s leading researchers will provide updates on the state of these studies, and will answer questions about the prospects for lessening the burden of these disorders.
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