Sunday Times 2
Focus on mind: World psychiatrists to meet here
View(s):It will be all to do with the mind which not only governs our mental condition but also guides our emotions and behaviour.
Local and foreign experts will gather in Colombo next weekend to ponder issues linked to the mind over five days during the 13th Annual Academic Sessions of the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists and the International Conference of the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations held in collaboration with the World Psychiatric Association.
Senior Prof. Samudra T. Kathriarachchi
The deliberations from May 27 to 31 to be held at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo will have a strong focus on the psychiatric issues of the region under the theme ‘New horizons in Asian Psychiatry: Choosing wisely’.
The Chief Guest at the inauguration on Friday will be Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Guest-of-Honour Prof. Norman Sartorius from Switzerland who is President of the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes. The Oration on ‘Non-fatal self-poisoning in Sri Lanka: The forgotten epidemic’ will be delivered by Dr. Thilini Rajapakse, Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Peradeniya.
Explaining that the development of psychiatric services in the world and Asia needs wisdom and courage, Senior Prof. Samudra T. Kathriarachchi, who heads the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists, said that this is what they are hoping to achieve at the conference by combining wisdom and courage to broaden the horizons of the delegates.
Prof. Shigenobu Kanba, president of the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations, meanwhile, emphasised the “compelling need” to work together in the field of mental health in Asia, in spite of its diversity.
The eminent participants at the conference will also include the President of the World Psychiatric Association, Prof. Dinesh Bhugra; the President of the Royal Australian-New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Prof. Malcolm Hopwood; the President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists, Prof. Helen Herrman; and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Prof. Nalaka Mendis from Sri Lanka.
Wide and varied will be the topics highlighted at the conference. They include: Mindfulness based counselling and psychotherapy; Reaching out to children and their distressed parents; Empowerment of families to combat stigma; Social justice and social discrimination; Promoting the mental health and human rights of women and girls in adversity.