Maria Ines Lopez-Ibor: “My goal is to teach the population to take care of their mental health”
What does the recognition you received mean to you?
It is an honor and privilege for me. However, I appreciate not only this recognition of my career, but also the commitment it provides. Charter 100 with mental health and with people suffering from diseases of this type. Without a doubt, I feel very honored.
What personal and professional motivations led you to specialize in psychiatry?
I must say that I am the daughter, granddaughter and niece of psychiatrists. Therefore, my motivation was influenced by a genetic part due to what I experienced since I was little at home. When I started studying medicine, I discovered that psychiatry was what I liked best. And this specialty combines two elements that are important to me: the clinical part and the more humanistic part. I’m glad I found my calling.
What do you consider your greatest contribution to the field of mental health?
I don’t know what to answer to this. Over the past ten years, I have explored primarily the boundaries that exist between normal and pathological sadness or between normal and pathological anxiety. It is important to understand that sadness or anxiety can be normal because it is a reaction to stress, and to distinguish it from cases where it develops into illness. Another fundamental aspect is treating patients suffering from anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is where I started.
“Our patients are still very stigmatized and have difficulty finding work.”
He worked hard to humanize patient care. Do you think this human approach is implemented in the specialty?
I think we are on this path, but we cannot let our guard down along the way. Today in medicine we have to be very specialized. We know there is a great demand for medical care, but we must not neglect the doctor-patient relationship.
How do you see the evolution of the stigma that has always been associated with mental health issues?
From my point of view, I believe that it is increasingly understood that mental illnesses have nothing to do with problems of will or personality, but are pathologies like any other, which already have a genetic or neurobiological basis, which we will learn about further. However, the stigma still exists. There is a lot of talk about mental health and mental illness these days, but our patients are still highly stigmatized and have difficulty finding work and leading normal lives. I think this is an ongoing issue that is being worked on. In this sense, Charter 100 is doing an excellent job. In fact, he collaborates with Asociación Canaria Espiral to help people suffering from more severe or chronic mental illness. If we all help, we can fight stigma.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced throughout your career?
I believe that every patient is a challenge, because every person has their own suffering and their own conditions. Sometimes we encounter cases with a poor prognosis and we know this from the very beginning. So much so that there are patients who begin to think that their existence has no meaning and end up ending their lives. These are, without a doubt, the most difficult and challenging situations.
You are the first and only female professor of psychiatry in Madrid. What impact did this great achievement have on your career?
This was a goal for me, as I received a position as an assistant professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and then as a professor. In the end I achieved my goal. I now believe that within a few years there will be many more women professors in psychiatry and every other medical specialty. We must not forget that there was a time when it was very difficult to get a professorship because there were no vacancies in universities. Now, fortunately, there is more supply.
Have you noticed that there is gender inequality in your profession?
In my case no. When a person prepares for an exam, he goes through a trial, and I did not appreciate that there is inequality in this sense. However, it must be taken into account that several decades ago the number of women studying medicine was much smaller, so there was very little teaching in this field. Now 85% of students are women. Another factor that could have played a major role in why women were unable to commit themselves to this is work-life balance, as it was very difficult to develop a professional career and take care of children.
What do you think needs to be improved to optimize patient care?
I believe there are several courses of action that need to be taken. Firstly, it is very good to explain what mental health is because it is not the same as mental illness. Sometimes when we talk about mental health, these concepts are confused, but health is understood as a state of well-being, which does not always go hand in hand with pathology. The second line aims to highlight the importance of early diagnosis, since early detection improves the prognosis of any disease. On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on prevention. The latter involves promoting mental health and understanding that what takes care of the body also takes care of the mind.
What is the future of psychiatry?
I believe that psychiatry will continue to evolve and that we will learn more about the neurobiological underpinnings of various disorders, so treatments will improve. Not only pharmacological therapy, but also psychotherapeutic methods and new ones that we use to treat the most serious conditions. An example is transcranial magnetic stimulation. All this will help our patients get better or even recover from illnesses.
What challenges do you face in the medium term?
Life is a challenge every day. Professionally, my goal is to become more and more aware of mental illness, to work for my patients, and for the general population to learn how to take care of their mental health.