Why Psychiatry Residents Should Attend APA’s Annual Meeting

As a PGY-5 resident, I believe that I can speak for most psychiatry residents when I say the following: we are constantly bombarded with opportunities and events related to psychiatry. Some are very academic, others more social. Some are local, while others are national or even international. Many of these events involve personal expenditures and consume a fair bit of our precious conference days.

Given the overwhelming number of choices with which we are faced and the sacrifices they entail, why should a resident choose to attend APA’s Annual Meeting? In the next few paragraphs, I will tell you why this meeting should be on the top of every resident’s to-do list.

First of all, location, location, location! APA gets it right by hosting the Annual Meeting in an exciting city. In 2017, the meeting took place in San Diego. This meant that I left Montreal when it was still cold to find myself delighting in SoCal’s perfect weather—sunshine, low humidity, soothing breezes. In 2018, the meeting took place in the Big Apple. As you all know, New York provides endless free-time possibilities: museums, restaurants, live jazz bars, beautiful parks, and Broadway and off-Broadway shows.

This year’s meeting will be held in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities for its hilly winding roads, picturesque views, unusual architecture, and stunning redwood parks. If you plan far enough in advance, you and your fellow residents can extend the trip and check out other cool places, such as Yosemite National Park or Napa Valley—a good way to maximize your precious days off.

Second, the meeting is huge. This is neither a good nor bad thing, but it is worth experiencing. As a resident, it is easy to become suffocated in the routine of clinical work, and APA’s meeting will feel like a blast of fresh air with its thousands of attendees, more lectures than you can ever imagine, caucuses for many special interests, ample networking opportunities, and many social events.

Third, and most importantly, the meeting is educational. The variety of lectures is a testament to the mosaic that is the field of psychiatry. As residents who have not yet committed to a specific area, the meeting allows us to explore different subtopics. For example, at the 2018 meeting, there were lectures on positive psychiatry, personality disorders, and the potential use of psychedelics in psychiatry.

Many talks are given by renowned psychiatrists. I remember reading Gabbard’s classic text Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice in my second year of residency and then later that year, I attended a talk by Dr. Gabbard himself. Dr. Otto Kernberg, Dr. Robert Michels, and Dr. Susan Carole Vaughan led a session titled “Eroticism: Denial and Recovery,” which had the audience very excited (pun intended).

Fourth, some aspects of the meeting are tailored to residents, and we can attend at a steep discount. One opportunity I found particularly useful was personalized feedback on CVs.

Finally, the meeting offers a great platform to present your work, and in fact, many of the poster sessions are presented by residents. These sessions also provide a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and contacts with colleagues from all over the world, a formative experience I highly recommend.

APA’s Annual Meeting has so much to offer, and I have highlighted only a few of the main reasons residents should attend. Good luck with your training, but take time out to attend the meeting and enjoy San Francisco. See you there!

This article was excerpted from an article in the newsletter of the Association des médecins psychiatres du Québec. ■