18
EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM
ON SUICIDE AND
SUICIDAL BEHAVIOUR

Despite all our efforts, we are sorry to announce that the 18th edition of the European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour will not take place in 2021.

This edition will be rescheduled to be held in Rome in 2024 and all the efforts made to organise an innovative congress with high-level scientific contents will be renewed in these years to achieve even greater results.

Due to the uncertainties regarding the Covid-19 global crisis and the issues related to the safety of participants and restrictions to international travels, the organising committee initially planned to postpone the congress to late spring 2021.
However, it was brought to the attention of the organisers that this plan would be challenging due to the occurrence in the same year of the Suicide Research Summit, organised by the International Academy of Suicide Research and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the World Congress of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Having all the major congresses in the field of suicidology concentrated in such a short period would create a detrimental competition between these events, ultimately jeopardise the global efforts to strengthen suicide prevention. Furthermore, the 2022 edition of the ESSSB is already scheduled to take place in Copenhagen.
Considering all these issues, it has been jointly decided that the 2020 edition of the ESSSB will be rescheduled to be held in Rome in 2024.
We are aware that this is a long time from now. Nevertheless, all the efforts made to organise an innovative congress with high-level scientific contents will be renewed in these years to achieve even greater results.
We would like to thank all the people who submitted proposals and papers to contribute to the congress. We would also like to thank the members of the Organising and Scientific Committees for their meaningful and expert contribution. We will send an e-mail to all contributors in the coming weeks regarding their submission.
These unprecedented circumstances are requiring us to rapidly adapt to new and unexpected scenarios. The rising concern about the impact of this crisis on mental health will ask us to reconsider our approaches to the prevention and treatment of suicidal behaviour. So we hope that these experiences will inspire the ESSSB in 2024.

Marco Sarchiapone                Patrizia Zeppegno                Maurizio Pompili
Organiser 18th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour