The scientific sections of the World Psychiatric Association are often characterized as the «Scientific Backbone» of the WPA. Indeed, the sections are perhaps the most important components of the WPA. As pointed out by the WPA President Ahmed Okasha (who has himself previously served as Secretary for Sections) “there is no medical or psychiatric association or organization that can encompass 55 scientific sections except the WPA”.

It must be taken into consideration that the Sections’ work is not usually manifest because they contribute to the work of other components (e.g. education, publications, meetings, consensus statements, World Congresses) without being particularly visible. We feel that visibility is not so important as long as the work of the WPA as a whole is carried out. Everybody, however, should be aware of the fact that the sections invariably provide the backing for most WPA activities and should receive credit for this. For example, each section contributes at least one Symposium to the World Congresses of Psychiatry.


Communication

Communication between the Secretary for Sections and the leadership of each section is carried out by

• regular correspondence
• written reports annually
• an overall written report about each section’s activities over the last triennium submitted some time in advance before the World Congress of Psychiatry
• a meeting of Sections’ chairs with the Secretary for Sections periodically during major scientific events but also during the World Congress of Psychiatry to discuss the triennial Sections’ reports and the Sections’ plans for the future
• presentations of the Sections’ activities during the WPA Fora held during major WPA Scientific events
• the “WPA Sections’ Newsletter” edited by the Secretary for Sections and the Operational Committee for Sections. The “Newsletter” has recently been upgraded to a Bulletin (“Science and Care: Bulletin of the WPA Scientific Sections”)

Collaboration with the Member Socities

Regular communication and collaboration with the member societies is a sine qua non condition for the implementation of the Sections’ mission. Within this framework two initiatives have been proposed

• To encourage the Member Societies to link up with the Sections in providing educational courses during the National Congresses
• To encourage the chairs of the Member Societies’ Sections to join the respective WPA Sections
• To emphasize to the Sections’ Chairs the value of direct collaboration with Member Societies

Inter-sectional communication

This has been advanced by means of

• The WPA Sections’ Newsletter (from now on called “Science and Care”)
• The WPA Website (WPA Online) owing to the WPA Webmaster Prof. Roger Montenegro
• The triennial volume “Advances in Psychiatry” (first volume) that has been edited in 2002. The second volume will appear in 2005. These volumes include update papers on the scientific area covered by each section
• The Bulletin “WPA News” edited by the Secretary General of the WPA and the WPA Secretariat
• The WPA Electronic Bulletin
• “World Psychiatry”. The Sections are encouraged to present updates and scientific papers in the official WPA Journal, as well as information about their activities
• Bulletins and Newsletters of individual sections. Many of our sections produce Bulletins or Newsletters and some of them are of high quality
• Journals by the Sections (e.g. “Psychopathology”). Some of these Journals are indexed and of high quality
• Directory of Sections’ Membership

Inter-sectional collaboration

This is an important issue that has been highlighted by Ahmed Okasha, my predecessor. The scope is to encourage the sections to form clusters on the basis of common interests and to work together.

Panel discussions with the participation of many sections on a common topic (such as psychiatric prevention and the psychopathological consequences of disasters) have proven particularly rewarding. Such initiatives have been implemented in the Athens Regional Congress on Psychiatric Prevention in 1999 (collaboration of ten sections on Psychiatric Prevention) and in the World Congress in Yokohama 2002 (Section on Military and Disasters Psychiatry and Section on Anxiety Disorders and OCD).
Joint research by the Sections has also started developing to a considerable degree.


The Regional and Inter-sectional Congress of the World Psychiatric Association, Athens 12-15 March 2005

This is a Congress of particular importance for the Sections. Each of our 55 sections will be expected to present a state-of-the-art paper on the recent developments in the scientific area covered by each section. Special emphasis should be given to the contribution of the WPA Sections to these developments.

These update contributions from each Section will be published in “Advances in Psychiatry”, volume no 2, to appear in 2005.


“Advances in Psychiatry”

The basic purposes of this volume are the following

• Encouragement of the Sections to produce and communicate their production to the other sections and to the WPA components as a whole
• Provision of information on worldwide developments concerning practically all aspects of Psychiatry
• Provision of concrete evidence that can assist evaluation of each section’s performance and contribution to International Psychiatry

Conclusions and Recommendations

The overall impression of the Secretary for Sections is that the Sections are doing a magnificent work. Some Sections are doing better than others but as a whole the Sections justify their characterization as “the backbone” of the WPA. The only recommendation I have is to encourage the sections to carry on working as they do.