APA President Looks Toward Transformation of Mental Health Care

Credit: David Hathcox

Outgoing APA President Carol Bernstein, M.D., opened APA's 2011 annual meeting in Honolulu saying that APA is committed—in the words of her presidential theme—to “transforming mental health through leadership, discovery, and collaboration.”

“As we continue to make advances in our exploration of brain chemistry, physiology, and structure, as we discover more about how our environment and life experiences interact with our biology and physiology, we will come closer to developing treatments that will help our patients lead fuller, richer lives, while continuing to live productively with chronic illness,” Bernstein said. “Our treatment armamentarium will become more nuanced and individualized as we incorporate genetics and genomics, culture and development into psychiatric nosology, epidemiology and treatment.”

A full report of Bernstein's speech will appear in a future issue of Psychiatric News. For continuing information about the meeting, go to http://www.apaannualmeeting.blogspot.com/, and follow the meeting on Twitter at #APA2011.