Time Is Ripe to Seize the Moment in Psychiatry

Psychiatry, psychiatric patients, and APA are at a turning point, according to incoming APA President Paul Summergrad, M.D., said today at the Opening Session of APA’s 2014 annual meeting. Increased public attention to mental health, extraordinary scientific opportunities, and the unfolding of health care reform mark this as a crucial time in history.

“What makes this moment so special?” Summergrad asked. “Mental health today is both in the spotlight and under a microscope. Public interest in mental health issues has never been more intense, triggered in part by events which make for tragic headlines and leave us all sick at heart.”

At the same time, he said the scientific opportunities available today are unprecedented. “We have never before had the capacity to image the brain, to see the impact of genetic abnormalities on neurodevelopment, or begin to understand the complex ways our brains shape our perceptions of the world and in turn are shaped by them. We also live in a world where health care reform is finally being realized and providing opportunities to fully integrate the care of so many of our patients. . . . These developments are truly once-in-a-lifetime moments that we dare not waste.”

At this crossroads, Summergrad said APA and the profession of psychiatry have four tasks ahead of it:

• Speak up for the science. “This means helping others understand what we know so well as physicians—that these illnesses are real, disabling, and strongly associated with medical comorbidity, but also amenable to care, treatment, and the power of contemporary science,” he said. “To that end, we have a special responsibility to put aside internecine battles, especially those driven by ideology and go where the science takes us.

• Advocate for patients and the profession. “Our patients live with stigma and we do as well,” Summergrad said. “We cannot act in their best interest if we do not speak fully in support of equity and parity. . . . With regard to our research and academic mission, it goes without saying that that future is dependent on our creativity and imagination, and we must continue our vigorous support for them.”

• Find a simple and direct language to communicate with ourselves, our patients, and the American public. “We should take advantage of the increased public interest in mental health and partner with allies in the media to amplify our message,” he said.

• Embrace a role as global leaders in psychiatry. “Many parts of our world are undergoing enormous social, economic, and political development and discovering both the importance of mental health in their own countries, in addition to the burden that the stigma of mental illness places on their populations,” he said. “Colleagues from around the world who are experiencing these cultural upheavals have much to teach us as well.”

As he concluded, Summergrad looked to the future. “As we set our course to achieve these goals, we must remember that none of these are the work of one president or one board or one moment in time,” he said. “These are the ongoing tasks that must animate this great organization and profession for years to come. None of this will come quickly. Indeed we have already been on a long journey for knowledge and justice. In his quest for civil rights, the words of Martin Luther King ring just as true about our work today and in the future: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’”

watch an interview of Summergrad as he gives an overview of his agenda for the coming year.