Dear colleagues,

If at the beginning of last year our annual meeting was marked by uncertainty, this year we are confidently stepping on the path opened by v-CNP 2020 and preparing a new national psychiatry conference in virtual format.

Although the situation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to work in conditions difficult to imagine in previous years, nevertheless, through the close collaboration of the R.A.P.P. members and the mental health professionals across the entire country, we have been able to face the challenges brought by the changes of our daily activity.

Online conferences, including v-CNP 2020, have helped us to quickly acquire the latest research data in the field of medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to step out of the (narrow) framework of psychiatry and to think about mental health pathology in terms of global health. Never until the times we live in, has the dialogue with our colleagues of other specialties been more useful. And, I want to believe, that for the “somatic” doctors, too, being in a dialogue with us has become a necessity. All the disadvantages generated by the COVID-19 pandemic have been turned into opportunities in the field of medical practice and, at the same time, in the field of scientific exchanges.

This year as well, v-CNP 2021 will benefit from the presence of the most valuable Romanian and foreign scientists, with at least 15 speakers of international value having already confirmed their participation. Collaboration with specialties and professions related to mental health will be present in the conference through symposia, plenary sessions, workshops. And, last but not least, the experience of clinical psychiatrists gained by providing care to patients in conditions of comorbidity of psychiatric pathology with SARS-CoV-2 infection will also be present in the conference’s topics. The R.A.P.P. Forum section will continue, becoming by now a tradition and a platform for freely debating the main needs that still burden our specialized practice.

We hope that at v-CNP 2021 we will be able, with the help of the IT technology, to offer you an optimal framework for communication and interaction around the priority topics included in the conference’s theme: