Portrait

On June the 8th, 2018, the "Swiss Society of Interventional Psychiatry" (SGIP-SSPI) was founded in Bern. The SGIP-SSPI is the society of all psychiatrists involved in the use of neurostimulation methods in people with psychiatric disorders.

In addition to electroconvulsive therapy, procedures such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation and deep brain stimulation are increasingly expanding the spectrum of therapeutic options. These treatment approaches lead to stable clinical outcomes and represent a treatment alternative or supplement to psychotherapeutic and pharmacological strategies.

To ensure the knowledge and quality of these procedures, a few years ago the Swiss Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Societies (SSPP) commissioned a working group consisting of colleagues from all over Switzerland, active in outpatient and inpatient care, to develop a curriculum in the sense of a FMH-approved certificate of competence. This has now been realized as part of the SGIP-SSPI with already existing recognition by the SIWF.

With the SGIP-SSPI a society was founded, which has the correct and recognized application of these therapy procedures in psychiatric indication as well as the further education and training in the interventional psychiatry. Finally, one of the SGIP-SSPI's tasks is to monitor the development and quality of specialized treatment and training centers and to develop guidelines and quality standards.

In order to guarantee this at a high level of quality, SGIP-SSPI works closely with the Swiss Societies of Biological Psychiatry and the Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and the Swiss Institute for Continuing Medical Education (SIWF) and its parent company FMH.