Program
Preliminary Program Information
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Welcome Reception (17:00 - 18:00)
Friday, 21 September 2007
Scientific Program (08:30 - 17:30)
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Scientific Program (08:30 - 17:30)
Dr Lakshmi N. Yatham
Professor of Psychiatry, Director, Mood Disorders Clinical Research Unit, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lakshmi N. Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Mood Disorders Clinical Research Unit at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His major areas of research interest include neurobiology and treatment of bipolar disorder and major depression. Dr. Yatham was a recipient of the Michael Smith Foundation Senior Scholar Award, and his work has been funded by a number of peer-reviewed funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, Stanley Foundation, and National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, USA. . Dr. Yatham leads a Canadian consortium on bipolar disorder, which is currently pursuing testing of new treatments for bipolar disorder using pragmatic and controlled trials with substantial funding from CIHR.
Dr. Yatham co-led the development of Canadian guidelines for treatment of bipolar disorder in 1997 and his group recently revised the guidelines for 2005 and these were published with International Commentaries in Bipolar Disorders Journal in June. He is Chair of the bipolar group of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), and is actively involved at a national and international level in continuing medical education and public education on diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder for psychiatrists, family physicians, and the general public. Dr. Yatham is currently the President for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and he is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Bipolar Disorders, Brain Pharmacology, Human Psychopharmacology, Quarterly Journal of Mental Health etc. He has published over 140 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and presented his research work at numerous international conferences.
Dr David Miklowitz
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Colorado, Boulder CO, USA
Dr Miklowitz is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Colorado (Boulder and Health Sciences Center Campuses). He completed his undergraduate work at Brandeis University and his doctoral (1979-1985) and postdoctoral (1985-1988) work at UCLA. His research focuses on family environmental factors and family psychoeducational treatments for adult-onset and childhood-onset bipolar disorder.
Dr Miklowitz has received the Joseph Gengerelli Dissertation Award from UCLA (1986), Young Investigator Awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (1987) and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD; 1987), a Research Faculty Award from the University of Colorado (1998), and a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD (2001). He is the recent recipient of the Mogens Schou Award for Research from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. He has received funding for his research from the National Institute of Mental Health, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Robert Sutherland Foundation.
Dr Miklowitz has published more than 160 research articles and book chapters on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and three books. His articles have appeared in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Biological Psychiatry, the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. His book with Michael Goldstein, Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Guilford), won the 1998 Outstanding Research Publication Award from the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy. His latest book, also with Guilford, is titled Bipolar Disorder in Teens: A Parents' Survival Guide.
Dr Robert Post
Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Penn State School of Medicine, Hershey, PA, and Head, Bipolar Collaborative Network, Chevy Chase, MD, U.S.A.
Dr. Post graduated from Yale University in 1964, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1968, and interned at the Einstein School of Medicine in 1969. Psychiatry residency was completed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, NIMH, and George Washington University. He was Chief, Biological Psychiatry Branch for most of his 37 years at the NIMH. He focused on better understanding and treating patients with refractory unipolar and bipolar illness with anticonvulsants, and recently, repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS). His group has won major research awards from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, APA, ACNP, Anna Monika Foundation, NARSAD, and NDMDA. He is on multiple editorial boards and has published more than 900 manuscripts. He organized the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (1995-2002), now continuing as the Bipolar Collaborative Network. He is a member of the APA Committee on Prevention of Childhood Mental Illness.
Dr Mauricio Tohen
Distinguished Lilly Scholar
Mauricio Tohen, M.D. DrPH, MBA graduated as a doctor of medicine from the National University of Mexico in and as a doctor of public health (epidemiology) from Harvard University. His postdoctoral training included a residency in psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a fellowship at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
From 1988 to 1997, he was clinical director of the Bipolar and Psychotic Disorder Program at McLean Hospital. In 1997, he joined Eli Lilly and Company as a Medical Advisor and is currently a Distinguished Lilly Scholar. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
He received a National Service Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology from NIMH and Harvard University. He also received a FIRST award from NIMH, the Pope Award from McLean Hospital, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award.
Dr. Tohen's research, supported by grants from NIMH and the pharmaceutical industry, has focused on the epidemiology, outcome, and treatment of bipolar disorder.
He has served on the Council on Research and the committee on Health Services Research of the American Psychiatric Association. He has also served in the Epidemiology & Genetics and the Clinical Centers and Special Projects Review committees at NIMH. Dr. Tohen has over 200 publications. He co-edited four books, Psychiatric Epidemiology (1995) and Mood Disorders Across the Life Span (1996) ). Bipolar Disorder: The Upswing In Research and Treatment (2005) and Bipolar Psychopharmacotherapy (2006). He also edited the book Comorbidity in Affective Disorders (1999).
Family-Focused Treatment for Bipolar Disorder Workshop
Professor David J Miklowitz
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, United States
Who should attend
Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and counsellors
Objectives and Outcomes
Various forms of psychosocial treatment have emerged as effective adjuncts to mood stablising medications for bipolar patients. This workshop will describe family-focused treatment (FFT) as an adjunct to medications for bipolar patients treated during a post-episode stabilisation period. The objectives of these programs are to prevent relapse, minimise the effects of residual symptoms, enhance the protective effects of family relationships, and improve patients' adherence to drug regimens. These objectives are accomplished through:
1. educating patients and family members about the nature, causes, course and medical treatment of bipolar disorder,
2. teaching illness management skills, and
3. teaching skills for minimising family or marital conflicts.
The results of three randomised trials of FFT - consisting of psycho-education about bipolar disorder, communication training and problem-solving skills training - will be presented. All three studies found that FFT was an effective adjunct to mood stabilisers in preventing mood disorder relapses over periods of up to 2 years, when compared with individual therapy or case management with medication. In one of the studies, FFT was associated with more consistent adherence to medication regiments that follow-up among patients, and more positively-toned family interactions.
This workshop will take participants through each of the stages of FFT:
1. Psycho-education: how to acquaint patients and family members with the signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder; the vulnerability-stress model for understanding episodes; risk and protective factors, management of sleep/wake rhythms; and the development of a relapse prevention plan. Issues regarding resistance to accepting the diagnosis and committing to an ongoing medication regimen will be discussed at length.
2. Communication enhancement training: participants will learn how to teach families to listen actively, give constructive positive and negative feedback, and negotiate conflicts.
3. Problem-solving: participants will learn to help patients and family members identify specific problems and go through the steps of solving them and putting solutions into action.
The recent application of family psycho-educational approaches to adolescents with bipolar disorder will be described. Methods for incorporating family psycho-educational methods into ordinary psychiatric practice will be discussed. Lectures will be accompanied by slides and videotapes.
Selected References: Miklowitz, DJ & Goldstein, MJ (1997), Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach, New York, Guildford Press
Miklowitz, DJ (2002), The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, New York, Guildford Press
Poster Submission - New Opportunity
An opportunity exists for delegates who did not submit an abstract for oral presentation to now submit an abstract for poster presentation.
If you would like to present a poster at the Australasian Society for Bipolar Disorders Conference 2007, please email a short summary of the content of your proposed poster to asbd2007@icms.com.au. The Program Committee will consider all submissions.