APA Brings Annual Meeting Sessions Directly to Members

APA members who were unable to attend last year’s annual meeting in New Orleans now have an opportunity to benefit from the cutting-edge knowledge that was exchanged during one of the meeting’s most popular formats.

In December APA mailed all of its members copies of two editions of its Clinical Highlights Program, which summarize presentations of some of the industry-supported symposia at last year’s APA annual meeting. One of the two programs is titled “Excessive Daytime Sleepiness: Evaluation and Management in Psychiatry.” The presentations in this module focus on neural substrates of arousal and sleep, diagnosing and managing disorders of excessive daytime somnolence, evaluating and measuring daytime sleepiness, and managing symptoms of fatigue and sleepiness in psychiatric patients.

The second program answers “Critical Questions in Anxiety Disorders.” Topics covered include the cost burden to patients, families, and society of anxiety disorders; the efficacy of antidepressants and anxiolytics in treating social phobia; whether generalized anxiety disorder should be treated long term; treating comorbid anxiety and bipolar disorders; and barriers to effective treatment of anxiety disorders.

The program is coordinated by APA’s Department of Continuing Medical Education (CME), and members can receive CME credit by completing and returning a test and evaluation form included with each entry in the series. They will earn one hour of Category 1 CME credit for doing so.

Programs will soon be available on the CME section of APA’s Web site at www.psych.org/cme at no charge to members.

The daytime sleepiness program, which members received in the form of a monograph, was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Cephalon Inc. The anxiety disorders module, which was sent as an audiotape and accompanying booklet, was supported by an unrestricted grant from Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals.

APA sponsors the Clinical Highlights series, with the funds administered by the American Psychiatric Foundation.

Before each part of the series is finalized, independent reviewers screen them to ensure that there are no unsubstantiated research claims or bias in favor of a particular company’s products. All include references that support research and efficacy claims made by the symposium presenters.

Additional programs in this year’s series, all of which will be sent to members by June, are:

• “An Evidence-Based Approach to Pediatric Psychiatry”

• “Psychosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: New Knowledge, New Treatment Strategies”

• “Chemical Restraints: Clinical, Research, and Ethical Implications”

• “PTSD: Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Options”

• “Men, Women, and Schizophrenia: Does Anatomy Determine Destiny?”

• “Clinical Challenges in Anxiety”

• “Comparing Atypical Antipsychotic Therapies: Making Sense of the Data”

• “Optimizing Treatment Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Depression”

Additional information about APA’s Clinical Highlights Program is available on APA’s Web site at www.psych.org/cme or by telephone at (888) 357-7924 in the U.S. and Canada. ▪