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Recent Updates

News

Exploring the Frontiers of Intergenerational Mental Health (IMH)

Yesterday at the 25th Congress of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) in Prague, Czech Republic, experts, clinicians, and researchers came together for a FAMILY course on “Intergenerational Mental Health (IMH): Navigating the Frontiers of Risk, Resilience, and Prevention.”

Mental illness rarely affects only one person. It often transcends generations, shaping families and communities in profound ways. Our course offered insights into how genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and neurobiological factors intersect to influence both risk and resilience across generations. By integrating clinical cases, user perspectives, and cutting-edge scientific insights, participants explored how prevention and early intervention can break cycles of vulnerability – and promote mental health equity across lifespans.

Many thanks to the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) for making this session possible, and to our excellent speakers and participants for creating such a dynamic and inspiring learning experience! 👏

05 October 2025
News

A Dialogue on Stigma: Event Report

The 2nd FAMILY Stakeholder Dialogue Event was held online on 10 June 2025, bringing together 38 participants from across Europe. Organised in collaboration with the Re-MEND and R2D2-MH projects, the event focused on the current perceptions of stigma surrounding mental health. The stakeholder event brought together academic experts and individuals with lived experience to address mental health stigma. Over three hours, participants engaged in expert talks and interactive discussions on how stigma manifests today, what current research shows, and what practical responses are needed in both science and everyday life. Key themes included the impact of stigma on care and perception, the effects of responsibility framing, and the need for inclusive language in research. Discussions also addressed barriers to effective communication, the empowering potential of affirmative language, and concrete strategies for respectful dialogue.

The event highlighted the importance of ongoing, inclusive collaboration – across research, clinical practice, and society – to challenge stigma at personal, professional, and systemic levels. A follow-up meeting is planned to continue this vital exchange.

Read the full event report and outcomes from the group work on language and communication in the context of stigma:

FAMILY_A Dialogue on Stigma_Event ReportDownload
09 July 2025
News

FAMILY at ESCAP 2025

On Day 1 of ESCAP 2025, Neeltje van Haren opened the state-of-the-art lectures with a talk about the FAMILY Project EU: “Running in the family – the role of brain imaging in the intergenerational transmission of mental illness.” She explored how mental illness runs in families, highlighting family history as the strongest risk factor for developing mental health disorders. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Manon Hillegers chaired a symposium on “Intergenerational transmission of psychopathology – results from longitudinal cohort studies and suggestions for clinical practice.” The session focused on how having a parent with psychopathology remains one of the strongest predictors for developing mental health disorders, bridging research insights with clinical implications.

Furthermore, Signe Mežinska presented on Poster 183 work from FAMILY: Attitudes towards the future clinical application of novel prediction tools for the risk of severe mental disorders.
The aim of this study was to collect and analyse stakeholders’ attitudes towards the potential future clinical application of novel prediction tools for the risk of severe mental disorders. An online survey of clinical psychiatrists (n=81) was performed, recruited via ESCAP and 30 in-depth interviews with persons with self-experience of mental illness and their significant others invited via patient and family organizations.

Interested in our latest research? Make sure to check out the publications page!

01 July 2025

About

Mental illness runs in families.
The FAMILY consortium aims to improve the life of mentally-ill persons and their families:

  • firstly focus on better understanding the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of mental illness from parent to child.
  • studying the family context, we will try to build models to predict whether mental illness will be transmitted across generations or not.
  • FAMILY will also address key ethical and social issues raised by risk prediction for clinical use, such as the right not to know, and the risk of stigma.
  • Lastly, together with the family advocacy and support organisation EUFAMI and the not-for-profit association ESCAP, we will try to increase awareness and foster active engagement of families, and translate new discoveries to patients and mental health care professionals.

Read more

FAMILY translates current barriers into 3 themes of enquiry, with the following 6 project objectives:

Theme 1

Understanding intergenerational transmission of risk

  • Estimate the contribution of genetic and environmental routes of intergenerational transmission of risk from parent to offspring throughout the life course.
  • Identify causal factors underlying genetic and environmental routes of risk transmission and resilience.
Theme 2

Predicting risk of mental illness in a familial context

  • Identify and validate genetic, epigenetic, and brain imaging biomarkers for risk or resilience to mental disease in the family.
  • Develop and validate a multimodal risk prediction model and a normative modelling framework to predict, at the individual level, who is at risk of developing a mental disorder.
Theme 3

Creating societal impact and end-user engagement

  • Map and evaluate social and ethical consequences of risk prediction for clinical use.
  • Increase awareness and foster active engagement of families and translate new discoveries to patients and mental health care professionals.

Impact

Scientific

New breakthrough scientific discoveries on the intergenerational transmission of risk of mental illness and risk prediction within a family context, pushing the field forward towards first clinical implementation of family-based prediction tools by 2035.

Clinical

Ethical considerations regarding risk prediction support mental health care professionals and patients and their families in clinical decision-making. Awareness on the role of transmission of risk of mental health problems stimulates the integration of child/adolescent and adult mental health care services, leading to improved care for high-risk families.

Societal

Improved mental health literacy in vulnerable high-risk families, resulting in increased engagement with their own mental health and earlier recognition of mental health problems, leading to earlier identification and preventive intervention. Improved quality of life of vulnerable high-risk families because of earlier recognition of emerging problems, earlier and focused preventive interventions, and less stigma and discrimination.

Economic

Earlier identification and preventive intervention of mental health problems prevents exacerbation of these problems, resulting in reduced mental health care cost in the longer term.