Associate Professor Misari Oe and I attended The Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists (PRCP) & World Association for Cultural Psychiatry (WACP) Joint Congress held in Tokyo, 25th to 28th of September. The congress had 1175 participants from 55 countries.
In line with its cultural focus, the congress showcased a lot of beautiful artwork. Fascinating research projects from all around the world were presented in 119 symposia, 337 oral and poster presentations, 10 educational lectures, and 4 plenary sessions. It was an honor to listen to experts such as Dr. Itsuo Asai, chairman of the board of directors at Heart Clinic Medical Corporation in Japan, enthusiastically sharing their research.
Prof. Oe participated in a 90-minute Symposium on Climate Change and Mental Health. I had a short oral presentation of the poster “Challenges in constructing image-based assessment of public attitudes towards potential child maltreatment”, which was selected as a Poster Presentation Award Nominee. The poster session was a memorable experience. Dr. Chee Kok Yoon, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Kuala Lumpur gave a great presentation on “Recognition, assessment, and management of tardive dyskinesia”. Session evaluators were Dr. Yayoi Imamura, Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine Kyorin University, and Professor Daeyoung Roh, Department of Psychiatry, Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital.
The four of us engaged in enjoyable and lighthearted discussions. Professor Roh won a well-deserved Poster Award for his research poster on “Expectancy violation enhances long-term inhibitory learning in personalized virtual reality exposure for panic disorders: a randomized controlled trial”.
In conclusion, attending the congress was truly inspiring, and motivated me to continue to strive for high quality research outcomes.

Text by Emelie Louise Miller