On Wednesday, Ispa - Instituto Universitário signed a cooperation protocol with The Clinic of Change, an "innovative" agreement aimed at "developing scientific, technical and human collaboration, with effective academic production and training".
The Clinic of Change is the third clinic in Portugal, through an international partnership with Awakn Life Sciences, to offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, "a form of psychedelic-assisted therapy". "An innovative therapy in Mental Health with solid evidence of efficacy and safety in the treatment of some of the biggest health scourges of the 21st century: depression, anxiety, burnout, post-traumatic stress, eating disorders and various types of addiction, namely alcoholism," explains the clinic itself. "The protocol between The Clinic of Change and Ispa - Instituto Universitário allows us to design a solid path for Portugal to bring academia and research closer together in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, in particular ketamine," argues the director-general of The Clinic of Change, Cláudio Carmona, who adds that this partnership "represents a unique opportunity to bring this huge innovation in Mental Health to the country, based on an international methodology that has already been documented and has published scientific evidence, with partners such as Imperial College and the University of Exeter."
Alongside the signing of the protocol, on Wednesday Ispa - Instituto Universitário hosted the lecture 'Ketamine assisted therapy - a paradigm shift in mental health', given by Celia Morgan, head of Psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter, a world reference in the field.
Today, more than one in five Portuguese suffer from mental health problems. That's 22.9% of the population, making Portugal the second country with the highest prevalence of mental illness in Europe. The country is the second in the OECD with the highest consumption of antidepressants per capita and mental disorders account for 11.8 % of the overall burden of disease in Portugal.
