Dear Colleagues,

The opening of the 18th World Congress of IACAPAP in İstanbul, Turkey is rapidly approaching. With great pleasure we are presenting the program overview of the congress and announcing the keynote speakers, who are among the most highly respected in their fields.

Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı, from Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, Turkey will give the opening lecture on “Mental Health”. Her studies on children and families are respected worldwide and she is winner of the William Thierry Preyer Human Development Research Perfection Award this year. Thereafter, on the first day of the congress Prof. Dr. Myron Belfer from Harvard University Medical School, Boston, USA will give the second introductory lecture highlighting the challenges facing child and adolescent mental health worldwide. Prof Belfer has held such honored positions as Senior Adviser for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the Department of Mental Health at WHO, Geneva, and as the past president of IACAPAP,

On the second day, ‘Developmental Psychopathology’ will be discussed by Prof. Dr. Tuula Tamminen from University of Tampere, Finland. Prof Tamminen is the President of ESCAP and of WAIMH and she will lecture on developmental psychopathology in early childhood. Prof. Dr. Efrain Bleiberg, Vice Chairman of Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA will afterward focus on developmental psychopathology in adolescence.

The third day will cover ‘Clinical Syndromes’. The key note lectures will address autism spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder. Professor Sir Michael Rutter, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK will present the most recent findings on the increased understanding of autism spectrum disorders. Prof Dr Ellen Liebenluft, Chief of the Section on Bipolar Spectrum Disorders at NIMH, USA will discuss research and current opinions on bipolar disorders in children and adolescents.
The fourth day of the Congress will shed light on ‘Psychosocial and Cultural Issues’. Prof. Dr. Felton Earls, distinguished international researcher, from the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School USA will discuss the wellbeing of children and adolescents from the perspective of cultural influences. Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk, the special rapporteur of the United Nations initiative on violence, will then speak about the latest research regarding violence against women and children.

There will be many symposia and workshops as well as poster sessions, courses and clinical case conferences, covering a range of specific interests to our field. This also includes important contributions from the allied professions, presented in organized symposia on social work, guidance and counseling, psychiatric nursing, education and other aspects of clinical practice.

We are looking forward to meeting all of you and extend a warm welcome to you in Istanbul next spring!

Best regards,