Report of the Silver Jubilee Conference of IASP 2009

Silver Jubilee National Conference of Indian Association for Social Psychiatry (NCIASP-2009) 15-17 November, 2009
Scientific Convention Centre, C.S.M. Medical University, Lucknow (UP)
Conference Report
The Silver Jubilee National Conference of the Indian Association for Social Psychiatry (NCIASP – 2009), was organised in Lucknow from 15-17 November, 2009 at the Scientific Convention Centre, C.S.M. Medical University UP, India. The conference was co-sponsored by the World Psychiatric Association. The theme of the conference was ‘Mental Health: Prioritizing Social Psychiatry’. The conference was attended by over one hundred and fifty mental health professionals from not only India but also from different parts of the world including USA, UK, Australia, New Zeasland, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Professor J.K. Trivedi was the Chairperson, Organising Committee, and Dr Vivek Agrawal and Dr Anil Nischal were the organising secretaries.
The conference started in the morning of 15th November with a CME on ‘Marriage and Mental Illness’. The symposium covered topics like the purpose of marriage, effects of mental illness on marriage and marital therapy for psychiatric disorders with eminent speakers like Prof V.K. Sinha, Prof Rajiv Gupta, Prof Anisha Shah and Prof Saroja Krishnaswamy. The session was chaired by Prof Harjeet Singh and Prof Indira Sharma.
This session was followed by the presidential address by the officiating president of the association, Prof. R.C. Jiloha. He had chosen a very apt and vital topic- Deprivation, Discrimination, Human Rights Violation and Mental Health of the Deprived. Dr Jiloha emphasized on the mental health problems faced by them. Dr. N.N. De Oration was delivered by Professor Rajat Ray, a leading international expert on drug and alcohol abuse. Professor Ray spoke on ‘Alcohol Use and Social Development’, bringing about the adverse effects of alcohol use on social issues like eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. This was followed by award sessions for Balint award, G.C.Boral I and II awards.
The award sessions were followed by the theme symposium mental health: prioritizing social psychiatry’, which covered topics like ‘current status of social psychiatry with special reference to research activities’, ‘biomedicalization of psychiatry’, ‘does social psychiatry hold a special promise for developing nations’, ‘advantages of enhanced integration of social concepts to psychiatry’, and ‘steps to be taken in future for further development of social psychiatry’. Prof JK Trivedi, Prof Savita Malhotra Prof SK Khandelwal, Prof Roy Abraham and Prof RK Chadda were the speakers in the symposium.
A formal inaugural ceremony of the conference was held in the evening at the Scientific Convention Centre, CSM Medical University, Lucknow. Chief Guest for the event was honourable Urban Development Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Nakul Dubey and the Mayor of Lucknow, Dr. Dinesh Sharma, was the Guest of Honour. Both the distinguished guests presented their views on the importance of the science of psychiatry and the relevance of giving due weightage to the societal factors influencing the illness and subsequent behaviour. Mr Nakul Dubey emphasized the importance of the benefits of psychiatry reaching the door steps of the population in dire need of it and urged the intelligentsia present in the hall to make the discussions and deliberations in conferences fruitful for ‘the common man’. The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Emeritus Saroj Chooramani Gopal, also addressed the august gathering and highlighted the significance of considering social psychodynamics while formulating diagnosis of the patients and giving adequate importance to them while planning management of the patients.
The second day of the conference began with poster session. All the posters were well researched and covered wide range of topics pertaining to the theme of the conference. Thi was followed by a serties of lectures by many renowned experts. Professor V. K. Varma, Founder Secretary General and a Past President of IASP delivered an invited lecture on various models of mental health and illness in Indian culture. He compared the holistic Indian approach to the western reductionistic approach towards mental illnesses which led to a number of comments from the audience. There were an interesting lecture by Dr D Basu on “What is not a psychiatric illness” , who deliberated various situations where one might be led to believe that the person is having a psychiatric illness but it is not actually so. Dr.Harishchandra Gambheera from Sr Lanka discussed about the impact of religion on suicide. Dr. S.A. Jeeva from South Africa gave a presentation on ADHD using video recordings and brought forth his points through clips from television programmes and movies like the very popular and commercial hit – Taare Zameen Par. Prof. V.R. Thacore initiated his talk by showing some beautiful snaps of Melbourne City, Australia and then gradually proceeded on to expounding how pre-migration socio-cultural factors play a cardinal impact on the mental health of Indian migrants in Australia but which applies to any other more sexually and technically advanced liberal countries than India. Dr.Jayan Mendis from Sri Lanka stressed on the psychosocial rehabilitation issues of chronically mentally ill patients and told about various NGOs in Sri Lanka which are at the forefront in organizing psychosocial rehabilitation in their country especially in civil war ridden areas involving the Tamil population.
The evening had two very different but equally informative lectures, one by Dr A.K. Kala on Mental Health Legislation and Social Factors, which invited a lot of comments from the audience and led to much deliberations and the other equally engrossing one by Dr Kishore Chandiramani on mindfulness and its use in psychiatry. The second day also saw four sessions of free papers, where more than 20 free papers were presented by the delegates.
The third day started with an enlightening panel discussion on ‘Ethics of Collaborating with pharmaceutical industry, what the next generation of Indian psychiatrists need to know’. The speakers included Professor Mohan Isaac and Dr Amit Banerjee from Australia, and Professor J.k.trivedi and Professor R.K. Chadda from India. This was followed by a talk on suicidal ideation markers in Malaysians by Dr.Saroja Krishnaswamy. There were also two free paper sessions. The conference concluded with a workshop on ‘Psychotherapy in Indian setting’ by Professor Vijoy Kumar Varma and Dr.Nitin Gupta organized a paid workshop for the doctors on “” and made use of role play to educate the attending delegates about the nuances of this therapy. It help clear misgivings and doubts about psychotherapy and involved healthy discussion and debate. The workshop was attended by forty eight participants.
Award winners for the year 2009 included Professor J.K. Trivedi (Dr N.N. De Oration), Dr. Nitin Gupta (Balint Award), Dr Mamta Sood (Dr. G.C. Boral I Award), Dr. K.S. Pavitra (Dr. G.C. Boral II Award), Dr. P.N. Suresh Kumar (DR. V.K. Varma Award) and Dr. Anil Nischal (Dr. B.B.Sethi Award). The conference proved to be a healthy learning experience for all the delegates. The city, the venue, the hospitality and the punctuality throughout the conference, received much appreciation and applause at the valedictory function, which for a change had a healthy attendance unlike most such conventions.