The EU-Voice Project: Objectives and Structure
The EU-Voice project is a strategic initiative of the European Parliament, promoted by the Health Committee through MEP Ignazio Marino. The goal is to provide a solid methodological and informational basis for future legislation and for planning effective and efficient investments in the field of youth mental health in Europe.
The project is built around three key operational elements:
- Survey: An in-depth survey of the current situation in the 27 member states regarding young people’s mental health.
- Mapping: A mapping of the resources and best practices that actually exist.
- Geolocated Database: The creation of a geolocated database that gathers all information, radically changing access to such data based on criteria of transparency and efficiency.
This platform aims to spread best practices and create a critical mass of “brains” that can develop and compare new ideas, guiding the European Parliament. The conference, to be held in Rome on 6 and 7 December and called “I Ctrl me”, is part of this project and is intended to present the initiative to 60 selected young people who will act as activists and promoters of the initiative.
Part I: The Crisis – The Progressive Delegation of Regulation
1.1 Youth Neurocognitive Fragility and the Role of Self-Regulation
The problem is rooted in the adolescent stage of development, in which Self-Regulation (or the Executive Functions Area) is still maturing, mainly in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) (Blakemore, 2005).
- The Critical Point: Adolescence is a period of intense plasticity and hypersensitivity of the reward system (Rianne Stowell, March 2024).
- Dopaminergic Hypersensitivity: The Ventral Striatum (part of the reward circuit) in adolescents is significantly more active than in adults when receiving rewards (Galván, 2013). This makes young people more inclined toward behaviours aimed at immediate reward. Early/excessive exposure can slow down or divert the development of neural circuits responsible for self-control (Ernst, 2005).
1.2 Persuasive Design and the Mechanics of Delegation (The Algorithmic Bypass)
The “Social Media System” is not a neutral tool, but an interaction environment whose persuasive design performs a real algorithmic bypass of emerging youth Self-Regulation. This delegation is facilitated by three interconnected mechanisms:
The Variable Reward System
The primary mechanism exploits intermittent reinforcement, whose power is well known from behavioural theories. This system exploits dopamine (released by the Ventral Tegmental Area) (Ernst, 2005), inducing a progressive Delegation of Control. The pursuit of gratification degenerates into a compulsive reflex (problematic and dysfunctional use) that suppresses activity in the areas of the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) responsible for self-control. The brain, in essence, is trained to seek “low-cost dopamine” (Cos, 2024), compromising the capacity to engage in long-term rewards.
Urgency and Scarcity (FOMO)
The second mechanism is based on creating a constant sense of Urgency and Scarcity (or Fear of Missing Out – FOMO) through the incessantly stimulating use of notifications (H-FARM International School). This tactic imposes a Compression of Reflection Time: digital messages do not ask for reasoning, but demand a reaction, compressing the time needed by the PFC to exercise critical and rational thinking (Fabbricotti, 2024).
Social Proof and Comparison
Finally, the natural need for approval (typical of adolescence) is diverted toward online validation (Primack, 2017). This continuous search for feedback translates into an Induced Emotional Dysregulation (Linehan, 1993) (Hayes, 2012): incessant effort to conform to digital standards reinforces superficial behaviours and, paradoxically, lowers real self-esteem, fuelling a cycle of dependence on external reward.
1.3 The Erosion of Co-Regulation Contexts
The crisis is amplified by the progressive change in the tools that develop self-regulation in primary contexts, particularly the failure of Co-regulation by adults.
- Family Crisis: Bauman’s “liquid society” (Bauman, 2000) generates uncertainty that pushes parents toward Passive Delegation. The device becomes the child’s main emotional co-regulator (Christakis, 2009). The constant use of the device by the parent (their “interrupted presence”) compromises the quality of interaction that is essential for modelling self-regulation (Turkle, 2011).
- Educational Crisis: Chronic exposure to rapid stimuli generates fragmented attention and a reduced tolerance for frustration (Kirschner, 2010). The “didactic resistance” needed to teach patience and complex processing is lacking (Blakemore, 2005).
1.4 The Crisis as an Ethical-Cultural Failure
The crisis is a cultural failure that undermines young people’s ability to exercise freedom based on reason, generating an inner conflict increasingly skewed towards lack of self-regulation. The aim of EU-Voice is to re-establish the primacy of Ethical Self-Government.
Part II: The Clinical-Ethical Model of Dysregulation
2.1 The Structural Conflict: Chronic Environmental Trauma (C-PTSD)
The design choice is to use the theoretical model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Chronic dysregulation is a condition of Chronic Environmental Post-Traumatic Stress (C-PTSD) (Van der Kolk, 2014). The state is conceptualised as a skewed inner conflict (Linehan, 1993) where psychological automatism (the compulsive search for relief) prevails over rational choice (Skinner, 1953).
- The Block of Self-Repair: Constant stress prevents the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system from functioning (Shapiro, 2018). Traumatic emotional experiences remain “frozen” (Van der Kolk, 2014), segregating into unresolved memories and causing chronic neurobiological dysfunction (Shapiro, 2018).
2.2 The Bimodal Pathology: Hyper-activation and Avoidance
The emotional and neurobiological dysregulation induced by the chronic stress environment manifests in a polar way (Van der Kolk, 2014), that is, in two extreme and dysfunctional states of activation: compulsive Hyper-activation and passive Avoidance.
Hyper-activation and Compulsivity
This modality corresponds to hyper-arousal of the autonomic nervous system. It is characterised by a state in which the Amygdala is chronically “on” and the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) fails to modulate it (Van der Kolk, 2014).
Clinically, this condition translates into:
- Notification Anxiety and FOMO: Hypervigilance (typical of the trauma response) drives a compulsive search for relief and an obsession with social feedback, forcing frantic scrolling (Ubi minor, 2025; HopeMedia Italia, 2024). Psychological automatism prevails over rational choice (Skinner, 1953).
Avoidance and Freezing
This modality corresponds to hypo-arousal of the system, a defensive response to stimulus overload. It is the effect of the block of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system (Shapiro, 2018).
This condition manifests as:
- Freezing and Dissociation: Traumatic emotional experiences remain “frozen” (Van der Kolk, 2014), segregating into unresolved memories and causing chronic neurobiological dysfunction (Shapiro, 2018). This translates into emotional withdrawal, numbness, and an inability to access complex emotions (Van der Kolk, 2014).
- Aversion to Reality: The active avoidance of life’s demands and complex interactions translates into infinite, passive scrolling as an emotional anaesthetic (Turkle, 2011), reinforcing the failure of Planning-Oriented Thinking.
The overall state is conceptualised as a skewed inner conflict (Linehan, 1993), where the capacity for choice and the integrity of the self are delegated to the external environment.
2.3 The Ethical Impact: The Annihilation of Planning-Oriented Thinking
The failure of Goal-Oriented Thinking and the Capacity for Temporal Projection undermines the Inviolable Dignity of the Individual, understood as the capacity for Ethical Self-Government. The solution must be action that unlocks Self-Repair in order to restore the possibility of predicting and building a future.
Part III: Methodological Innovation for EU-Voice: Database, Critical and Ethical AI
3.1 Unlocking Adaptive Plasticity: Intervention on Processing (Self-Repair)
The intervention is unlocking in nature, aimed at restoring Adaptive Plasticity and the functionality of reason.
Trauma Integration: The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) approach defines psychotherapy as “stimulation of self-repairing psychological processes” (Fernandez, 2012), essential for integrating “frozen” memories and restoring the Future Generator.
3.2 Ethical Consolidation and Non-Stigmatising Incentives
The core of the EU-Voice proposal is investment in a system that positively values the choice to Self-Regulate (reasserting the primacy of Ethical Self-Government as a civic good).
EU-Voice’s strategic response to the dysregulation crisis is based on profound innovation in governance and in the methodology for validating interventions.
3.3 The Geolocated Database: Transparency and Operational Efficiency
The central element of EU-Voice’s planning is the creation of a Geolocated Database of resources and best practices existing in the 27 nations.
This database is not a mere list, but a transparency and efficiency tool designed to:
- Survey and Mapping: Provide an accurate survey of the situation and a mapping of the resources that actually exist in Europe.
- Radical Access to Information: Radically change access to information, allowing policy makers and researchers to identify where investments are most urgent and where practices have proven successful.
- Critical Mass: Create a critical mass of “brains” (experts, researchers, activists such as those of “I Ctrl me”) who can develop and compare new ideas, guiding the European Parliament in legislating and planning effective and efficient investments in this sector.
3.4 The Strategic Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is integrated into the project to ensure methodological rigour, going beyond the simple role of care assistance and taking on a critical control function, essential for the quality of the database.
AI as Super-Diagnosis and Support (Therapeutic Function)
AI supports the goal of unlocking Self-Repair by providing:
- Super-Efficient Diagnostics: Analysis of complex data (organic, epigenetic, behavioural) to quickly identify structural conflicts (the neuro-behavioural disjunction) that block Adaptive Plasticity.
- Direction to Treatment: AI directs the young person toward the most effective human intervention (pharmacology to restore plasticity, psychotherapy for integration), without ever replacing the relationship and the ethical construction of consciousness.
Critical and Refutational AI (Methodological Function and Ethical Safeguard)
The crucial and innovative role of AI is that of an epistemological tool for quality control and transparency, fundamental for validating the “best practices” disseminated by EU-Voice. Far from being merely a benevolent assistant, AI is tuned to highlight limits and refute hypotheses (as in the Picano Medical Practice model).
- Metric and Objective Analysis: AI processes video recordings and chat interactions (on the topics discussed) between patients and practitioners, providing support for diagnosis and treatment.
- Refutational Function and Quality Control: AI is specifically programmed to criticise the logical construct underlying the intervention and to highlight errors that practitioners may commit. This ensures that practices are rigorous and scientifically defensible.
Ethical Integration: The Vision for Governance
This operational methodology must be anchored in a clear ethical vision. The use of AI and the Database must serve to reassert Ethical Self-Government.
- The Dignity of the Person is preserved not through prohibitions, but by ensuring that every intervention (Non-Stigmatising Incentive) is based on a transparent and critically verified methodology that aims to return rational control and the Capacity for Temporal Projection to the young person.
- EU-Voice uses technology (AI and database) not to subject the individual to a care algorithm, but to enhance the efficiency of human reason in the fight against dysregulation.
Prof. Antonio Picano
