Mag. Reem Alksiri, born in Syria 1971, now Dutch Citizen, is a human rights expert active in psychosocial support for women who have suffered persecution. She is also a former athlete, lawyer, and has published several books, both professional and fiction, writing novels and poetry. She works with the WPA section on Psychological Aspects of Persecution and is founder of an organization supporting women who have experienced persecution (IOPW).

Basma Abdel Aziz Hussein is a Psychiatrist and writer, living and working in Egypt. She has long standing experience in working with torture survivors (El Nadim Centre, Cairo) and on human rights in Psychiatry. Besides her medical work, she has published several internationally acclaimed and translated novels, taking up the Kafkaesque aspects of live in a bureaucratic autocracy. “The Gate” has been awarded several literary prizes, such as the Sawiris Cultural Award.

Dr. Jennifer Harrison has written eight books of poetry, most recently Anywhy (Black Pepper 2018). A new collection Sideshow History will be published in 2023. She is Chair of the World Psychiatry Association’s (WPA) Section for Art and Psychiatry and received the 2012 Christopher Brennan Award for sustained contribution to Australian poetry.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan is a transcultural psychologist. He is the Director of the Institute for Transcultural Health Science at the State University Baden-Württemberg, Germany and Dean of the Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychotraumatology at the University of Duhok, Kurdistan Iraq and head of the transcultural and psychosomatic department, Mediclin-Clinic Donaueschingen, Germany. He is member of the WPA section on Psychological Aspects of Persecution, and author of well-published books such as “Der Kreis: Die letzte Yezidin”, Die Psychologie des IS: Die Logik der Massenmörder, und “Nachtfahrt der Seele: Von einem, der auszog, das Licht zu suchen”.

Hans-Otto Thomashoff, MD, PhD, lives and works in Vienna as psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He wrote several publications on psychodynamic approaches for the understanding of art. He is an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), honorary president of the WPA section on Art and Psychiatry, and member of the supervisory board of the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna. He also works as a writer of novels and nonfiction books on integrating brain research and psychoanalysis to develop practical consequences for everyday life.

Prof. Thomas Wenzel, Medical University of Vienna, is a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, working with refugees, crime victims, and survivors of violence. He is chair and co-founder of the WPA section on Psychological Aspects of Persecution, co-founder of Hemayat. Past medical director of the IRCT torture treatment center umbrella organization, and has worked in the theater, that is still one of his main interests.

The event is a cooperation of the World Congress of Psychiatry and EU CENTAUR, CEHRI, International Organisation of Persecuted Women. With support of the Sigmund Freud Museum

Have a look at our event program.

Watch a selection of our event videos on our YouTube channel.