Thu 8 – Fri 9 October, 2026

Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Organized by
Dimence Group Mental Health Institute,
Radboud University
Foundation for Psychiatry and Philosophy &
Wiegerinck Education

For the last decades philosophy has played an increasingly important role in debates on the legitimation, organisation and practice of mental health care. It questions the aims of care, critically examines the boundaries of diagnoses and explores the roles of experience and expertise. But how might it actually inform practice? In other words, what can philosophy do for mental health care?

The 2026 INPP conference, to be held in Nijmegen, the Netherlands on 8-9 October, aims to bridge the gap between philosophical theory and mental health care practice and to explore the diverse ways in which philosophy can contribute to the practice of mental health care. The conference brings  together researchers in the field of philosophy and psychiatry, clinical scientists, mental health care practitioners, experiential experts, and others interested in understanding and improving mental health care through philosophy.

We invite submissions for abstracts on a wide range of topics at the intersection of psychiatry and philosophy.  We prioritize submissions which actively seek to bridge the gap between theory (e.g. philosophical, ethical or phenomenological) and practice (e.g. mental health care design, treatment or organization).

Topics include but need not be limited to:

• Philosophical foundations of psychiatric diagnosis (e.g. the ontological status of psychiatric disorders and the validity of diagnostic categories.
• Epistemological issues in mental health care practice (e.g. the nature of clinical expertise; epistemic negotiations in clinical practice, experiential expertise)
• Ethical issues in clinical care (e.g. patient autonomy, informed consent, euthanasia, forced admissions).
• Philosophy of mind (e.g. how philosophical concepts of mind influence psychiatric diagnoses and treatment approaches)
• Philosophical training for mental health practitioners (e.g. training in conceptual competence, phenomenology, moral deliberation)
• Mental illness and society (e.g. depictions of illness in media; stigma; societal views on illness; societal costs of mental health care)
• Emerging issues in philosophy and psychiatry (e.g. novel treatments such as psychedelics; novel societal developments such as the use of chatbots by patients; impact of social media)
• Neurophilosophy (e.g. the implications of advances in neuroscience for understanding mental illness, and therapeutic interventions.
• Philosophy of science in psychiatry (e.g. theoretical frameworks underlying psychiatric research, including discussions on reductionism, holism, and the role of evidence in psychiatry.

Submission Instructions:
Abstracts of no more than 200 words (and prepared for anonymous review) should be sent to inpp2026@gmail.com

Submissions will be confirmed by a returning email message.  Abstracts are due on April 1st 2026. Notices of acceptance or rejection will be sent early May 2026. Presentations will be strictly limited to max 25 minutes, followed by minimally 5 minutes for discussion. 

Local Organizing Committee

Prof. dr. Derek Strijbos (chair), psychiatrist and director residency training program Dimence Group, professor of philosophy in mental health care, Radboud University Nijmegen
Dr. Roy Dings, postdoc philosophy of psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen and UMC Utrecht
Prof. dr. Sanneke de Haan, professor of philosophy and psychiatry, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Utrecht University
Dr. Wouter Kusters, philosopher and expert by experience, Foundation for Psychiatry and Philosophy
Dr. Alan Ralston, psychiatrist and philosopher, director Quality & Safety Parnassia Group
Bram Salman, psychiatry resident at GGZ Centraal, PhD-candidate philosophy of psychiatry, Radboud University
Karlijn van Vlerken, MD and PhD-candidate philosophy of psychiatry, Erasmus University