First Announcement
WPA THEMATIC CONFERENCE*
Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry:
A Comprehensive Review
June 6 – 8, 2007
Dresden, Germany
Dear colleagues,
With great pleasure and deeply honoured we invite you to the WPA-co-sponsored Thematic Conference on
which will take place in Dresden, Germany, from June 6 to 8, 2007.
The theme of the Conference is not only essential to psychiatry, but also ethically and historically sensitive, hotly debated and highly criticized by patients and relatives as well. Furthermore, it is under-researched and lacks clear definitions of best practice. At the moment, the most important finding in this human rights area of mental health care is the situation that significant variation exists worldwide as concerns different aspects of coercive treatment. This applies e.g. to mental health legislation, rates of involuntary admissions to psychiatric hospitals, mandated community treatment, and outcome research in this field.
All this collides with one extremely important international health political and professional goal: equality of health care opportunities. Particularly the last decade has seen an increasing focus on the consumer of mental health services and on the question whether psychiatric treatment can be considered successful if the recipients of such services are dissatisfied. A frequent and serious cause of negative feelings toward psychiatric treatment is being treated involuntarily, and thus being infringed upon in one’s human rights.
Therefore, it is the main objective of this Conference to provide the state-of-the-art in the different parts of this theme, and this will be done by plenary lectures, symposia, workshops, courses, and poster sessions. Thus, the Conference will address psychiatrists, and other mental health care professionals, specialists in public mental health and medical ethics, legal experts, patients and relatives and their organizations, and (mental) health politicians.
The Conference will be hosted in the City of Dresden. Located at the widening of the valley of the Elbe River, Dresden was chartered as a city almost 800 years ago, and it was the residence of the Saxonian princes and kings since the end of the 15th century. The cultural and economic highlights experienced by Dresden in the Baroque period and again during the period of industrialization in the 19th and 20th centuries met with a sudden end in the almost complete destruction of the city on the 13th of February in 1945. During the following 40 years being part of the German Democratic Republic, Dresden remained a wounded city, not fully rebuilt and characterized by dilapidation. After the German reunification Dresden got many vital impulses and is now the capital of the Free German State of Saxony, re-founded in 1991. An economic upturn and political stability is the background for Dresden to re-establish itself as a cultural and educational centre and a place of interest for tourists, offering highlights such as world-famous orchestras and art exhibitions as well as lovely surroundings (e.g. Saxonian Switzerland). The city hosts six universities with about 40.000 students, and several other research and education institutions.
The congress venue is the new Dresden International Conference Centre, located at the banks of the river Elbe near the old part of the City of Dresden with all its architectural and cultural highlights like Zwinger Palace, Castle, and Semper Opera. Modern architecture and highest standard of technical equipment provide all pre-conditions for successful scientific meetings, and create an atmosphere of hospitality and professionalism highly appreciated by attendees and sponsors.
We expect your contribution as researchers and clinicians across the world to contribute to the Scientific Program. This will turn the conference into an important and successful scientific event!
We look forward to welcoming you in Dresden!
Professor Dr. Juan E. Mezzich
President of the WPA and
President of the Conference
Professor Dr. John Monahan
Chairman of the Scientific Program Committee
Professor Dr. Thomas W. Kallert
Chairman of the Organizing Committee
Tentative Schedule
June 6, 2007, 10.00 am – 06.30 pm
June 6, 2007, 06.30 pm – Get-Together
June 7, 2007, 08.30 am – 06.15 pm
June 7, 2007, 08.00 pm – Congress Dinner
June 8, 2007, 08.30 am – 01.30 pm
Main thematic issues
President of the Conference and of the WPA
Professor Dr. Juan E. Mezzich, New York, USA
Scientific Committee
Chair: Monahan, J., Charlottesville, USA
Co-Chair:
Aldenhoff, J., Kiel, Germany
Amering, M., Vienna, Austria
Appelbaum, P., Worcester, USA
Becker, T., Günzburg, Germany
Bindman, J., London, United Kingdom
Bowers, L., London, United Kingdom
Burns, T., Oxford, United Kingdom
D
Dembinskas, A., Vilnius, Lithuania
Dressing, H., Mannheim, Germany
Gaebel, W., Düsseldorf, Germany
Hansson, L., Lund, Sweden
Hiday, V.A., Raleigh
Hohagen, F., Lübeck, Germany
Jablensky, A., Perth, Australia
Kaltiala-Heino, R. Tampere, Finland
Karastergiou, A., Thessaloniki, Greece
Katschnig, H., Vienna, Austria
Kiejna, A., Wroc
Kjellin, L., Örebro, Sweden
Leese, M., London, United Kingdom
Lidz, C.W., Worcester, USA
Möller, H.J., Munich, Germany
Müller-Isberner, R., Gießen, Germany
Nawka, P., Michalovce, Slovakia
Okasha, A., Cairo, Egypt
Poythress, N.G., Tampa, USA
Priebe, S., London, United Kingdom
Raboch, J., Prague, Czech Republic
Rössler, W., Zurich, Switzerland
Ruiz, P., Houston, USA
Sartorius, N., Geneva, Switzerland
Saß, H., Aachen, Germany
Schanda, H., Göllersdorf, Austria
Solomon, Z., Tel Aviv, Israel
Swartz, M.S., Durham, USA
Szmukler, G., London, United Kingdom
Tansella, M., Verona, Italy
Thornicroft, G., London, United Kingdom
Torres-González, F., Granada, Spain
von Cranach, M., Kaufbeuren, Germany
Zinkler, M., London, United Kingdom
Organizing Committee
Chair: Kallert, T.W., Dresden, Germany**
Felber, W., Dresden, Germany
Gericke, B., Dresden, Germany
Reichmann, H., Dresden, Germany
Salize, H.J., Mannheim, Germany
Schützwohl, M., Dresden, Germany
Spengler, A., Wunstorf, Germany
Steinert, T., Ravensburg, Germany
**Dresden University of Technology
Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Fetscherstrasse 74
D-01307 Dresden, Germany
General Information
Congress Venue
Congress Center Dresden
Ostra-Ufer 2
01067 Dresden
website: www.dresden-congresscenter.de
Congress Organizer
INTERCOM Conference Service of the Dresden University of Technology
Mrs. Claudia Stolz
Zellescher Weg 3
D-01069 Dresden
Germany
Tel.: + 49 (0) 351- 4633 9097
Fax: + 49 (0) 351- 4633 7049 or - 6475 6903
Email: cstolz@intercom-dresden.de
website: www.intercom-dresden.de
For further information please see:
*
in collaboration with: German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy
and Neurology Medical Faculty of the Dresden University of
Technology EUNOMIA-study-group (www.eunomiastudy.net)