Symposium “Auxiliary Methods in Psychiatry and Neurology (EEG, Event-Related Potentials, MRI) in Today’s Context.”

On April 17, 2026, as part of the 11th Annual Conference of the Association of Psychiatrists of Ukraine with international participation, titled “Mental Health in Ukraine: Management in Wartime, Planning for Peace,” an unusual but highly important symposium was held: “Auxiliary Methods in Psychiatry and Neurology (EEG, Event-Related Potentials, MRI) in Today’s Context.”

Moderators: Iryna Perchuk — PhD in Medical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Head of the Research Direction at the Veteran Mental Health Center of Excellence; Oleksii Omelchenko — PhD in Biological Sciences, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Radiological Diagnostics for Children and Adults, State Institution “All-Ukrainian Center of Motherhood and Childhood of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.” At the end of the symposium, Oleksii Omelchenko also summarized the topic of functional MRI (what it is, and when and how this method is used).

Speakers:

• Kostiantyn Kuts, PhD in Medical Sciences, Acting Head of the Department of Radiation Psychoneurology at the Institute of Clinical Radiology, State Institution “National Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Hematology and Oncology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.” Presentation: “The Role of Cognitive Psychophysiology in Neuropsychiatric Research.”

• Heorhii Kreinis, Research Fellow at the Department of Radiation Psychoneurology, Institute of Clinical Radiology. Presentation: “Quantitative EEG in Individuals with Different Types of Psychotraumatic Experience.”

• Oleksandr Zakomornyi, Radiologist (Category II), MRI Department, PhD candidate at the Department of Radiology, State Institution “All-Ukrainian Center of Motherhood and Childhood of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.” Presentation: “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Context of a Mechanistic Approach to Studying Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Key issues discussed:

– when and how to use electroencephalography in psychiatric and neurological practice;
– why event-related potentials (ERPs) are important for mental health practitioners;
– current advances in MRI diagnostics;
– what functional MRI is, and when and why it is used.

Today, evidence-based medicine is critically important. MRI of the brain is sometimes prescribed more often than necessary, overlooking the fact that many questions can be addressed using modern quantitative EEG. This method is more cost-effective and, in some cases, no less informative than MRI.