IFMAD has a tradition of inviting expert speakers with subjects which provide new insights in treatment of various psychiatric disorders.  The meeting always takes place in a collegiate setting which allows for an open interaction between speakers and other experts present with the registrants both in the meeting room and in the intervals.

This year there are substantial sessions on bipolar disorder with a focus on cognitive impairment with a critical analysis of the design issues and the difficult issue of how to treat cognitive problems in bipolar disorder.  The place of talking therapies in treating bipolar disorder and how to stage bipolar disorder will also be reviewed as well as the controversial place of antidepressants in bipolar depression.

A major component of the meeting will be to focus on treatment resistant depression on several areas, with an update of the most advanced pharmacogenetics techniques which may benefit patients, data driven 10 easy suggestions on improving antidepressant response in TRD, how to save time in the choice of effective treatment of TRD, and a suggested algorithm for treating TRD based on the evidence.

The new findings which show that the response of TRD may be accelerated to achieve response in 24 hours or 48 hours is expected to revolutionise the treatment of TRD and the theoretical studies and results with different clinical strategies in the clinic will be critically reviewed.

These new findings raise questions for regulatory agencies in how to accommodate the new results to allow treatments in the new field and allow access to patients.  The new findings here and elsewhere will be critically reviewed to advance the cause of personalised treatment with a range of suggested new steps.

The field of the interactions of gut health on depression will be discussed, raising the possibilities of developing mood food and the manipulation of gut flora to improve both depression and health.

There is a focus on OCD and the new findings from the International Collaboration of Experts will be presented along with a review of the evidence based treatment of resistant OCD.  There will also be a focus on the new thoughts and strategies in treating anxiety disorders and an extra focus on treating them when complicated by substance abuse which is unfortunately common.

We are all concerned about the impact of the Zika virus epidemic on the CNS with concerns, not just on dreaded microcephaly in utero, but also on Guillain Barré paralysis, particularly in the elderly.  These will be reviewed in a special lecture with a timely update on the evidence and consequences which we may face.