Conference Summary
by
Shelly Jones
The Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada 2010 Scientific and Academic Conference was held in Vancouver, BC on April 22 – 24, 2010. With a theme of “Innovations in Treatments of Anxiety Disorders”, professionals from across Canada and the United States shared information about evidenced-based treatment approaches across the anxiety disorders spectrum. AnxietyBC was a major contributor to the conference, as Drs. Melisa Robichaud and Adrienne Wang (AnxietyBC Board members) participated in numerous symposiums and skills building sessions, and Shelly Jones (Board President) provided some opening remarks. Segments of the AnxietyBC DVD on Separation Anxiety in children, and the recently completed DVD on Panic Disorder in adults, was shown during the lunch break on Saturday.
AnxietyBC is especially pleased to have received positive feedback from numerous conference participants on both our website and our DVDs, and to have been specifically mentioned by Dr. Martin Antony as an organization that is having an impact throughout Canada.
Excellent keynote speeches were delivered by Martin M. Antony, PhD, Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Director of Research at the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, and President of the Canadian Psychological Association (on “Transdiagnostic Treatment for Anxiety Disorders”); by Mr. Peter Levesque, Canadian Mental Health Commission, Director for Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC) Initiative; and by Stanley Jack Rachman, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia and Past Editor in Chief of Behavior Research and Therapy (on “From Conditioned Reflexes and Cognitions: The evolution of CBT”).
Dr. Rachman reported on very positive developments in the U.K., which in 2007 embarked on a 6-year program “to provide better support for people with problems…such as anxiety and depression”, and a sum of approximately 300 million pounds sterling (over 600 million US $) has been allocated for the first 3 years. The plan is to introduce 3600 more newly trained psychological therapists giving evidence-based treatment in the first 3 years, steadily rising to a total of 8000. The Government News Network (www.gnn.gov.uk), on October 10, 2007, stated that: “Psychological therapies have proved to be as effective as drugs in tackling these common mental health problems and are often more effective in the long run”. CBT is the psychological treatment of choice for anxiety disorders.
The newly elected President of the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada is Dr. Lynn Miller, a former President of the AnxietyBC Board, and AnxietyBC looks forward to continuing the positive relationship with ADAC and together working towards improving the lives of the estimated 1 in 4 people who will struggle with anxiety.
AnxietyBC is happy to have assisted the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada at the conference, and supports ADACs mission of promoting the prevention, treatment and management of anxiety disorders and to improve the lives of people who suffer from them.
