The World Psychiatric Association, or the WPA, is an association of national psychiatric societies. For example, the member society for the United States is the American Psychiatric Association, and to be a member of the WPA, you would first have to be a member of the APA, although they will occasionally allow honorary memberships, and those may have different membership rules under certain circumstances. The WPA currently has 135 member societies, and they are in 117 countries throughout the world. In all, the WPA boasts more than 200,000 psychiatrists.

What Does the WPA Do?

The WPA organizes the World Congress of Psychiatry every three years. In addition to organizing the WCP, the WPA also puts together many international and regional meetings and conferences. The WPA has 65 scientific sections that cover many different areas of psychiatry. Because they have professionals working in all of these different fields, it’s possible for some of the best psychiatrists in the world to gather and share information with one another. This can help to further their goals of helping people around the world who have psychiatric problems.

The WPA has a number of goals and mission agendas that it strives to accomplish. They hope to promote psychiatry and mental health around the world, and they want to be able to improve the care of the mentally ill. The WPA also wants to make sure that the mentally ill are able to retain their rights, and they want to protect the rights of the psychiatrist. Increasing knowledge of mental illnesses and sharing that knowledge is very important to the members of the WPA as well. They hope to be able to learn enough that they will be able to get rid of many mental disorders as well. Maintaining the best in clinical practices and working to the highest ethical standards are some of the other aims of the WPA.

What about Forensics?

Because the WPA has so many different specialty sections and areas, there are those who work in forensic psychiatry. However, psychiatrists and psychologists are two very different types of professionals even though they do work in the same arena. If you are a forensic psychologist, you will not be able to become a member of the WPA. However, you will find a host of other organizations and groups that you will be able to join with your credentials. You will be able to find a number of associations that have programs and publications comparable to the WPA.

Forensic psychiatrists who are able to become members of the WPA will find that there are some great advantages. The WPA has a journal, World Psychiatry, as well as WPA Publications, which offers a number of books on various subjects. In addition, you would be able to visit the various conferences regionally and internationally, including the World Congress of Psychiatry, which is one of the largest meetings of its type in the world. If you are a psychiatrist, it is a good idea to become a member of the WPA.

Please visit http://www.wpanet.org/ for more information about the World Psychiatric Association.