A View From Academia
From February 21 to 25, I attended the American College of Psychiatrists’ scientific meeting in Tucson. The members of the college are generally well known and largely from the academic community. Self-designated clinicians constitute about 10 percent of the membership. There are about 800 members from the United States, about 30 members from Canada, and 20 members from other international locations. Most of the members know each other because of the college’s relatively small size and because they often interact in other settings such as the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology examinations. Spouses and significant others usually attend the meetings. This makes for a closeness and family feeling seldom achieved in larger organizations.
The college’s scientific programs are consistently excellent and allow enough free time to enjoy and explore the setting. The theme of the program this year was “Educating Psychiatrists for the 21st Century.”
Other portions of the program focused on psychiatric disorders and the teaching and use of psychotherapy. Psychopharmacology researchers presented data on anxiety disorders and depression, documenting that patients improve about equally with either medication or psychotherapy, but that the combination of the two treatments results in a much greater improvement. Moreover, while medication may have an earlier effect, the patient’s improvement deteriorates on medication alone. Also, psychoanalytic psychotherapy appears to be important in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. From other presentations I was surprised to learn that there has never been a national study to determine the prevalence of child abuse and that evidence of predisposition to schizophrenia is detectable in fetuses.
This meeting provided a rich learning experience, excellent socialization, and a better appreciation of what takes place in academia. Clearly, we must do more to convince our medical colleagues of psychiatry’s value. ▪