PPA’s 35th Annual Convention psyches up in the Pines

Philippine Psychiatric Association, Inc. held its 35th Annual Convention CAP John Hay Trade & Cultural Center, Baguio City last January 20 to 23, 2009.

The convention concentrated on the theme ADVOCACY IN MIND: Partnerships that Bind. Honorable Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service, attended to be the conventions keynote speaker. Yolanda Oliveros, Director of the Health Department’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control also spoke for the event. According to her, when an issue about Filipino’s mental health was raise, she said that mental disability is a “huge health challenge” in the Philippines since many Filipinos are exposed to “various extreme life experiences.”

Other speakers of the event were Dr. Daisy Jabido-Artuz, Dr. June Pagaduan-Lopez, and Dr. Marissa Pascual, who discussed topics of reining in aggression, psychosocial response to disasters, and mental health concepts and terminologies, respectively.

Other topics which were expounded in the event were ADVOCACY for Competency: Enlightening the Psychiatrist which covered Cognitive and Behavior Therapy, Psychotherapy, and Electro-Convulsive Therapy; ADVOCACY for Standardization of Care which covered Ramification in Caring for the Cancer Patient, Multifaceted Training for Renal Transplantation, and Psychosexual Therapy Regarding Intersex Issues; PROMOTING Mental Health; ADVOCACY for Research; ADVOCACY for Clinical Training; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ADVOCACY; and, PPA Link with Family Support Groups.

Activities such as SPORTSFEST called “Mental Health Olympics”, Business Meeting, Elections, Residents’ Case Presentation, FELLOWSHIP: “A Night of Mixed Nuts, Prizes and Surprises”, Research Grant Presentation, Conferment Rites, and Industry-Sponsored Symposia were also held in the convention.

PPA’s 35th Annual Convention was sponsored by Unilab, Sanofi Aventis, Lilly, AstraZeneca, Abbott, GSK, Janssen, Novartis, Patriot, Torrent, Brown and Burk, Endure Medical, Inc.,Lundbeck, Otsuka, and PharmaLink.

For more information, do contact PPA Secretariat on the tel. no. 635-9858; 632-7814, e-mail address at ppa_inc@pldtdsl.net, or visit the website www.ppa.ph .