The Four-Day “Green” Conference of the Country’s Biggest Gathering of Mental Health Professionals Concludes

65th Annual National Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society Attracts more than 4000 Mental Health Professionals from Across the Globe

 —- Eminent Psychiatrists shares valuable insights into various kinds of mental illnesses and deliberates on issues revolving around the theme of
 “Psychosocial Adversity and Mental Health” —

Bengaluru, Tuesday, January 22nd 2013:  The 65th Annual National Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society concluded on Sunday, January 13th after four days of debates, lectures, symposiums and paper presentations by some of the eminent psychiatrists from India and across the globe. Over 4000 psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, psychiatric nurses and counselors from across the world participated in the 4-day conference making it the most successful and biggest gathering of mental health professionals in the country. The four-day conference with an objective of removing stigma surrounding mental health disorders and improving the lives of all those suffering, was held at the NIMHANS Convention Centre from January 10-13, 2013.

 

Karnataka High Court Judge N.Kumar, the chief guest at the valedictory function gave an insightful speech and shared, “We have taken several steps in improvising and improving the facilities for those suffering from mental health. We are taking proactive measures in ensuring that there is a Mental Health team in all district level hospitals across Karnataka so that each and every one who needs help will be supported. It is my duty to make sure that everyone is sensitized on this issue of Mental Health.”

He further shared that various awareness programs, in conjunction with the Indian Psychiatric Society, to educate and sensitize the district court judges, district level attorneys, deputy commissioners amongst others to deal with cases of mental patients with the help of psychiatrists is being taken up. He also shared that special focus will be on cases of abuse against women/sexual abuse, domestic violence as these might be caused by people who might be mentally ill and unaware of their mental state.  He shared that in most cases, these are treatable cases and thereby will help create awareness on the same.

Speaking at the valedictory function, Prof. Indira Sharma, the newly appointed president of IPS spoke regarding the increasing cases of sexual assault on women. She shared “The plight of women with mental health issues is a serious issue and as a psychiatrist I want to make sure that justice is provided to all women who are faced with such trauma. She also urged the government to include more laws for the protection of the weaker section.”

Prof. Roy Kallivayalil, President on Psychological Adversity and the Practice of Person Centered Medicine expressed his appreciation to the team for having conducted a successful and well organized conference.

Prof Norman Sartorius stated that the conference was the best and the biggest conference ever attended. He said, “I have learnt so much more and it’s unfortunate that the conference has come to an end.”

The four-day conference was inaugurated by the world renowned Prof. Norman Sartorius, Former Director, WHO-Mental Health in the presence of other eminent personalities including Dr. Roy Abraham Kallivaylil, President of Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), Prof. Indira Sharma, the new President of IPS, Prof Eliot Sorel, former President of the World Association for Social Psychiatry and of the Washington Psychiatric Society, Prof Driss Moussaoui, President of the World Association of Social Psychiatry, Prof Dilip Jeste, the first Indian psychiatrist to head the American Psychiatrists’ Association amongst others.

The theme was selected keeping in focus the recent brutal happenings of sexual and physical violence perpetrated on a young adult female in the country’s capital. This incident amongst other happenings rang the alarm for the need of a change in the mindset of individuals in this society, a realm in which the mental health profession has a major role.

Over the four-day conference, some of the world’s renowned mental health professionals provided valuable insights into the various kinds of mental illnesses and solutions to address the same. The theme of the conference “Psychosocial Adversity and Mental Health” was given special attention with many papers being presented on issues surrounding the same. “Despite the significant increase in the number of mental health professionals in our country, it has not been possible to address all the issues in those who undergo diverse traumata across age groups. Some who face such adversities cope well, showing resilience, while others succumb in varying measures. Many emerge stronger with the experience. The speakers at the conference addressed these issues and more over these four days focusing on how preventing the undesirable effects of adverse events should be the priority today, as managing the larger number of those already affected seems an insurmountable task. But one must make a beginning and hopefully, that beginning was made during these four days,” said Dr. Kalyanasundaram, Chairman, Organising Committee, ANCIPS 2013.

Some of the other key topics addressed included presentation by R Srinivasa Murthy, an international expert on mental health aspects of Disaster and its aftermath, who focused on psychosocial adversity in the context of our country, the myriad hardships that are confounding and hugely challenging, address by Prof M S Keshavan, a homegrown Bangalore boy, now a professor at Harvard who spoke about recent developments in early interventions in psychoses (severe mental illnesses), Shekhar Seshadri who spoke on “Psychosocial Adversity in childhood and adolescents” which addressed the problems the current generation is facing, Prof. Dilip Jeste gave a talk on “Psychiatry of future: positive psychiatry” that concentrated on the development of psychiatry and its importance in our times.

Prof. Juan Mezzich, President of World Psychiatric Association enlightened the listeners with his analysis towards “Systematically Conceptualizing and Measuring Person-Centered Medicine while Dr Mohan Isaac who spoke on “The Essential Role of Preventive Psychiatry in the world stated, “Prevention is better than cure even in the world of Psychiatry. We should recognize the early symptoms of psychiatric disorders like addiction, depression, sexual harassment and violent tendencies and treat them accordingly at the earliest. This can help in reducing the number of crimes in the nation.”

The other key highlight of ANCIPS 2013 was the speech by P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper who spoke at length on issues that lead to farmer suicides across the country and had the audience spellbound. Sainath described the huge socio-economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots and gave cases of stark contrasts in India today between the two classes. He drew attention to the huge suicide rate of one in 6 hours among the farmers and how the Government is not doing enough to address this major issue. He called upon the mental health professionals to show more care and concern toward this growing issue and hoped that the government

ANCIPS 2013 was a “green conference with eco-friendly approach”, as the organizers introduced e-posters for the first time in any conference of this magnitude in India instead of paper or cardboard or flex posters. The invited chairpersons received mementos in the form of an acknowledgment that a tree is being planted in the name of each chairperson in Turahalli urban forest near Bangalore.

Phenomena such as personal security are a continuous preoccupation, along with concerns about the safety of one’s family, neighborhood and society at large. These issues along with others in the field of mental health such as depression, schizophrenia, alcohol and substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, the workings of the mind and its pathology, care giver issues, children’s, adolescents’, adults’ mental health and illnesses along with those of senior citizens, were also addressed during the four-day conference.

About “The Indian Psychiatric Society:”
The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) is the national body of qualified psychiatrists and has over 3000 members from across the country. Apart from psychiatrists, its associate members are clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, psychiatric nurses, counselors and others interested in the field of mental health. This national body has Zonal branches and each zonal branch has state branches; some states also have City branches.

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