Globally, mental health professionals showed a positive attitude towards mental illness, but also a relative support to coercive treatments. There are differences in attitudes modulated by professional category and setting. Results can guide preventive strategies, particularly for the hospital-based and nursing staff.

Background.Compulsory admission procedures of patients with mental disorders vary between countries in Europe. The Ethics Committee of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) launched a survey on involuntary admission procedures of patients with mental disorders in 40 countries to gather information from all National Psychiatric Associations that are members of the EPA to develop recommendations for improving involuntary admission processes and promote voluntary care.Methods.The survey focused on legislation of involuntary admissions and key actors involved in the admission procedure as well as most common reasons for involuntary admissions.Results.We analyzed the survey categorical data in themes, which highlight that both medical and legal actors are involved in involuntary admission procedures.Conclusions.We conclude that legal reasons for compulsory admission should be reworded in order to remove stigmatization of the patient, that raising awareness about involuntary admission procedures and patient rights with both patients and family advocacy groups is paramount, that communication about procedures should be widely available in lay-language for the general population, and that training sessions and guidance should be available for legal and medical practitioners. Finally, people working in the field need to be constantly aware about the ethical challenges surrounding compulsory admissions.

There has been no epidemiological study done on Anorexia Nervosa (AN) in the Portuguese population of Continental Portugal. In the economical, social and cultural areas, this counq is in a transitional situation. A population of 2422 girls fiom the Lisbon and Tagus Valley area was studied through a questionnaire that included the criteria definition of AN and other issues concerning the changing pattern of cultural image and eating behawiour. We found 0.4 per cent of AN, 12.6 per cent of subclinical illness and 7 per cent with only body image disturbance. The total population included 38 per cent that wished to be thinner, 49 per cent that felt they had a fat body part and 5 1.5 per cent that had a 'horror of being heavier'. The results confirm the hypothesis that Portugal is in a transitional situation.

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This presentation will be introduced by the different disease conceptions between Europe and West African cultures.The classical assumption of universality of neurological substrate will be discuss in confront with cultural relativist perspectives going back to nosology.Some questions will be adress in the fields of compared subjectivity and phenomenology.Some final remarks about the importance of Ethno-psychiatry will be done.