Bulletin Winter 1988

Australia, Macau, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, India, England, the Netherlands and Finland. The college was founded in 1980 by a group of senior academic psychiatrists from the Pacific rim region, w ith the objectives o f promoting psychiatry as a scientific and culturally relevant medical disci pline. Many o f its fellows are professors and chairmen o f psychiatric departments, and since 1982 the college has organized biennial scientific meetings. Professor Char-Nie Chen o f the University's Department of Psychiatry is the current president o f the Pacific Rim College o f Psychiatrists (1988-90) and chairman o f the organizing committee for the fourth Scientific Meeting. Dr. Chung-Kwong Wong is the conference secretary, and Dr. Christoph Yung is the chairman o f the Scientific Programmes Subcommittee. The main theme o f the fourth Scientific Meeting was: ‘Psychiatry — Challenges and Directions'. The Scientific Programmes, consisting o f three workshops, eleven symposia and ten free communication sessions, covered the following themes: Workshops (1) Teaching in an integrated medical curricu lum; (2) Cross-cultural child-bearing practices; (3) Culture and neurasthenia: is there a need for such disease criteria in modem psychiatry? Symposia (1) Infantile autism in the Pacific rim countries; (2) Psychiatric therapy around the Pacific rim coun tries; (3) Brain drain or brain gain: reflections on man power and training; (4) Indigenous Chinese healing practices; (5) An update o f D.I.S. (Diagnostic Inter view Schedule) epidemiological studies in the Pacific rim countries; (6) Transcultural psychotherapy: what is common and what is different? (7) Mental health law in the Pacific rim countries; (8) Alcohol abuse: bio-psycho-socio-cultural factors; (9) Transcultural psychopharmacology in the Pacific rim countries; (10) Practices o f forensic psychiatry in the Pacific rim countries; (11) Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes observed in Asia. Free Communications (1) Biological aspects o f psychiatry; (2) Geriatric psychiatry; (3) Clinical psychopharmacology ； (4) General hospital psychiatry; (5) Psychiatric epi demiology; (6) Social aspects o f psychiatry; (7) Clinical psychiatry I; (8) Cultural psychiatry; (9) Clinical psychiatry II; (10) Child and adolescent psy chiatry. 17