International Jubilee Congress : Invitations

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS

Dear colleagues and guests

The World Psychiatric Association has entrusted to the Fédération Française de Psychiatrie the organisation of its Jubilee in Paris in the year 2000 and we now have great pleasure in inviting you to take part.

This " annus jubilaeus " will celebrate, in particular, fifty years of existence of the World Psychiatric Association in the very city in which it first saw the light of day. Indeed, as we know, it was the success of the First World Psychiatric Congress, held in Paris in 1950, which led to the foundation of the Association by the national societies of those countries which had taken part. Since then, the development of the Association, in particular by the founding of scientific societies in those countries which had none at that time, has mirrored the formidable evolution of our discipline in all fields over the last half century. Therapeutic methods have been considerably enriched; conditions for helping the mentally ill have changed radically; psychiatrists have been entrusted with new missions; interest in clinical and basic research has grown; ethical concerns have become paramount.

The ten World Congresses which have taken place since then, in Europe and America, have allowed us to take stock of the progress made over all these years.

Drawing on our shared experience, we invite you to reflect and to imagine the psychiatry of the future and the focus, of future World Congresses in Asia, Africa and elsewhere....

Paris, too, has changed a great deal and we will be happy to show you the new Paris of the Year 2000, where, thanks to the contribution of artists and designers from all over the world, intellectual and cultural life is as
stimulating as ever.

So, we are sure that, in issuing this invitation, the result will be fruitful and uplifting exchanges in the spirit of a true jubilee.

Welcome.

Dr Jean GARRABÉ

President of the W.P.A. International Jubilee Congress

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE PSYCHIATRIE

Dear colleagues and guests,

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to take part in the Jubilee Congress organised in Paris by the the Fédération Française de Psychiatrie (FFP).

Since 1992, the FFP has represented all French psychiatric societies. They came together and organised
themselves first of all to give a new dynamism to psychiatric research by bringing together clinical practice, basic research, and research into mental illness. The Federation also had the missions of developing international exchanges and generally contributing to the theoretical debate.

Through this fiftieth Congress of the W.P.A. the Committee has sought to call to mind that psychiatry is first and foremost a clinical discipline whose knowledge base has been built up progressively through the observation, hypotheses and reflexion of each of its practitioners responding to the range of particular
problems presented by each patient. At the same time, we also want to emphasise that in future the culture and activity of the clinical psychologist (and even one of the ethical dimensions of this work) must include structured research -- linking and sometimes integrating several disciplines and levels of approach. Working collaboratively in networks, and strengthening exchanges is also a way of continually consolidating psychiatry, which still runs the risk of fragmenting into its different basic and social elements.

Another major theme of this congress will be to compare, at the international level, the systems of care, the organisation of our specialty, its missions and its methods of delivery, its relationships with society at large and with other medical specialties. Even though psychiatry rests firmly on a unique relationship between the
practitioner and the patient, and sometimes his or her family, it is still affected by the forces of social organisation and economic constraints. What is the overall assessment that we can draw up today ? What are the models on which we can progress and set goals for the future?

Clearly, the programme is a most engaging one and we hope that you will all be active participants as it unfolds.

Dr Jean-Michel THURIN

President of the Fédération Française de Psychiatrie

Scientific Committee General Secretary

	Congrès international du Jubilé International Jubilee congress 26-30 juin 2000 - Paris
	De la clinique à la recherche : penser la psychiatrie From clinical practice to research : rethinking psychiatry