Board Gets Update on IPS, Forms Committee on Women
Abstract
An APA work group will present a recommendation to the Board in December regarding a “new vision” for APA’s IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference.
The future of APA’s fall meeting on community psychiatry continues to be a priority for APA’s Board of Trustees. At the Board’s October meeting, which was held in conjunction with APA’s 2019 IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference in New York, trustees heard the latest report from Jacqueline Feldman, M.D., chair of the 2019-2020 IPS Work Group. She provided an update on the group’s progress on studying the overall meeting and coming up with recommendations for its future. She reported that the group is continuing to look at a variety of options for reformatting the conference, attracting more attendees, and partnering with other groups to sponsor the conference.
Daniel Cho, M.D., APA/APAF Leadership Fellow, and Miranda Greiner, M.D., APA/APAF Public Psychiatry Fellow (left), listen to discussion at the Board of Trustees meeting last month.
Jacqueline Feldman, M.D., describes progress of the IPS Work Group as Tristan Gorrindo, M.D., director of APA’s Division of Education, looks on.
At the request of APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D., the work group will report back in December with a recommendation for a reformatted meeting to be launched in 2021.
The Board of Trustees also engaged in comprehensive discussion that culminated in a vote to approve the establishment of the Committee on Women’s Mental Health to be reevaluated by the Board after three years.
The new committee was placed under the Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families. It was decided that this council would be the most appropriate for helping the committee carry out its work and collaborate with other APA councils to identify gaps in current knowledge and produce documents that will result in enhancingwomen’s mental health.
APA members who are interested in an appointment to the committee should send a letter of interest, including their areas of expertise, to Schwartz at [email protected] with a copy to Tatiana Claridad at [email protected].
Other Business
Rana Elmaghraby, M.D., resident-fellow member trustee, comments on the new SMI Adviser smartphone app.
In his report to the Board, APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., remarked that some proposed minor text and/or criteria revisions to DSM are expected later this year (DSM-5-TR). Additionally, proposals are under review to include new codes for past and current suicidal behavior (not a new diagnostic category) and to create a new diagnostic category for Prolonged Grief Disorder. (Currently, diagnoses of persistent complex bereavement disorder and suicidal behavior disorder are listed in Section III of DSM-5 as “conditions for further study.”)
Advances in digital publishing have paved the way for adoption of a “continuous improvement” model for DSM, and a process has been implemented to make iterative changes—including additions of new diagnoses and changes to existing criteria or descriptive text—as warranted by advances in the science of mental illness. Information about this process is posted here.
The Board also voted to approve the appointments of five individuals to four-year terms as deputy editors of the American Journal of Psychiatry: Rachel Gur, M.D., John C. Markowitz, M.D., Roy Perlis, M.D., M.Sc., Diego A. Pizzagalli, Ph.D., and Nim Tottenham, Ph.D. ■
APA members may access archived summaries of Board actions here.
