The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) is a nongovernmental organization in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). It brings together 147 national psychiatric societies from 123 countries, representing more than 250,000 psychiatrists worldwide, and convenes the World Congress of Psychiatry.
History Origin and founding The World Psychiatric Association traces its origins to the Association for the Organization of World Congresses of Psychiatry, which held its first world congress in Paris in 1950, followed by subsequent congresses in Zurich, Montreal, Madrid, Mexico City, Hawaii, Vienna, Athens, Rio de Janeiro and Hamburg.
Jean Delay was the first president of the Association for the Organization of World Congresses of Psychiatry when it was started in 1950. Donald Ewen Cameron became president of the World Psychiatric Association at its formal founding in 1961.
WPA and Soviet psychiatry During the 1970s, the World Psychiatric Association became increasingly involved in the controversy over the political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. At its 1977 congress in Honolulu, the WPA General Assembly adopted a resolution submitted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists condemning "the systematic abuse of psychiatry for political purposes in the USSR". It also approved, by 122 votes to 66, an American Psychiatric Association proposal to establish a committee to monitor "the misuse of psychiatric skills, knowledge and facilities for the suppression of dissent wherever it occurs".
Relations between the WPA and the Soviet Union subsequently deteriorated. In February 1983, the Soviet All-Union Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists (AUSNP) withdrew from the WPA while the association was considering its expulsion.Vera Rich, Soviet psychiatry: pre-emptive resignation?, Nature (February 17, 1983).Allan Wynn, The Soviet Union and the World Psychiatric Association, The Lancet (February 19, 1983). The AUSNP remained outside the WPA until 1989, when it was conditionally readmitted following changes respect for human rights and extensive debate among WPA delegates.Masha Hamilton, Soviets Win Praise From Amnesty International, Los Angeles Times (April 2, 1989). During the proceedings, the acting secretary of the Soviet delegation acknowledged that "previous political conditions in the U.S.S.R. created an environment in which psychiatric abuse occurred, including for nonmedical reasons."Paul Anastasi, Soviets Conditionally Readmitted To World Psychiatric Association, New York Times (October 18, 1989).
Structure and governance +World Congress locations and WPA leadershipYearWorld CongressPresidentSecretary GeneralNameCountryNameCountry 1950 Paris, FranceJean Delay FranceHenry Ey France 1957 Zurich, Switzerland 1961 Montreal, CanadaD. Ewen Cameron Canada 1966 Madrid, SpainJuan J. López-Ibor SpainDenis Leigh U.K. 1972 Mexico City, MexicoHoward Rome USA 1977 Hawaii, USAPierre Pichot FrancePeter Berner Austria 1983 Vienna, AustriaCostas Stefanis GreeceFini Schulsinger Denmark 1989 Athens, GreeceJorge A. Costa e Silva BrazilJuan J. López-Ibor, Jr. Spain 1993 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilFelice Lieh-Mak Hong Kong 1996 Madrid, SpainNorman Sartorius SwitzerlandJuan Mezzich USA 1999 Hamburg, GermanyJuan J. López-Ibor, Jr. Spain 2002 Yokohama, JapanAhmed Okasha EgyptJohn Cox U.K. 2005 Cairo, EgyptJuan Mezzich USA 2008 Prague, Czech RepublicMario Maj ItalyLevent Kuey Turkey 2011 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaPedro Ruiz USA 2014 Madrid, SpainDinesh Bhugra U.K.Roy Abraham Kallivayalil India 2017 Berlin, GermanyHelen Herrman AustraliaRoy Abraham Kallivayalil India2018Mexico City, Mexico 2020 VirtualAfzal Javed UK Petr Morozov (until 2022) Russia 2023 Vienna, AustriaDanuta Wasserman SwedenSaul Levin USA2024Mexico City, Mexico2025Prague, Czech Republic Danuta Wasserman is president, and Thomas G. Schulze is president-elect. The societies are clustered into 18 zones and four regions: the Americas, Europe, Africa & Middle East, and Asia & Australasia. Representatives of the societies constitute the World Psychiatric Association General Assembly, the governing body of the organization. The association also has individual members and there are provisions for affiliation of other associations (e.g., those dealing with a particular topic in psychiatry). There are 66 scientific sections.
Objectives and goals Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote professional education and to set ethical, scientific and treatment standards for psychiatry.
Publications The official publication of the association is World Psychiatry. World Psychiatry and the association's official books are published by Wiley-Blackwell. WPA also self-publishes a quarterly newsletter on its website.
Several WPA scientific sections have their own official journals and newsletters: Journals (Psychiatric Electrophysiology Section) Archives of Women's Mental Health (Women's Mental Health Section) History of Psychiatry (History of Psychiatry Section) (Ecology, Psychiatry and Mental Health Section) International Journal of Mental Health (Psychiatric Rehabilitation Section) Journal of Affective Disorders (Affective Disorders Section) Journal of Intellectual Disability Research (Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability Section) Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics (Mental Health Economics Section) Personality and Mental Health (Personality Disorders Section) Psychiatry in General Practice (Rural Mental Health Section) Psychopathology (Classification, Diagnostic Assessment and Nomenclature Section; Clinical Psychopathology Section) (Disaster Psychiatry Section) (Disaster Psychiatry Section) Transcultural Psychiatry (Transcultural Psychiatry Section) Newsletters Art & Psychiatry Section (Section of the Psychopathology of Expression) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Early Career Psychiatrists Psyche and Spirit (Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry) Psychological Consequences of Torture and Persecutions Section Psychotherapy Section World Healer (Transcultural Psychiatry Section) WPA eReview (WPA Quarterly eNewsletter)
Activities The association has helped establish a code of professional ethics for psychiatrists. The association has also looked into charges regarding China's treatment of the Falun Gong.
References
Bibliography
External links
WPA Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry WPA Transcultural Psychiatry Section