Dr. Elie Karam, Adult Psychiatrist and President of IDRAAC participated in the 20th World Psychiatric Association (WPA) World Congress of Psychiatry which was held as a virtual meeting from March 10-13, 2021 attracting global leaders in mental health and providing forums for shared learning and collaboration.
The WPA is psychiatry’s global association representing national societies aimed to increase the knowledge and skills necessary for work in the field of mental health.
Dr. Karam, currently the Chairman of the WPA Epidemiology and Public Health Section, participated in different sessions during this congress:
1. Symposium organized by the WPA Epidemiology and Public Health Section: THE IMPACT OF ADVERSITIES ON CHILD MENTAL HEALTH - AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH (Chair, Elie Karam, Lebanon):
This symposium joined experts in the field who addressed childhood adversities, exposure to war, exposure to physical violence and through social media as contributors to the wellbeing of children, adolescents and adults. The major conflict and social unrest that have attracted the attention of the media in recent years were represented in this symposium where Dr. Elie Karam chaired the session, and presented field data on the interaction between different types of trauma and individual sensitivity, in the picture of mental health, of war trauma in children and adolescents, in his presentation titled: “Sensitivity, war exposure & childhood adversities”.
2. Special live session dedicated to: WAR & MENTAL HEALTH (Chairs: Elie Karam, Lebanon & Katherine Keyes, United States of America):
Dr. Karam gave a presentation titled “How do we assess exposure to war?” where he described, based on international studies and the Lebanese wars experiences, the different methods to assess war exposure and different variables which should be taken into account in war-related studies.
3. Difficult Cases Session: PANEL DISCUSSION ON DIAGNOSTIC AND MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS ARISING ON DIFFERENT CONTINENTS
During this session, early career psychiatrists and senior expert psychiatrists presented case histories of people with mental disorders whose diagnosis and management presented a number of problems. The speakers described the cases highlighting the issues and invited the audience to engage in a discussion and in the search for solutions to the problems which they faced.
More information on this congress can be found on this link.