2004 Annual Meeting, New Orleans: War as Universal Trauma

Patricia Watson and Josef I. Ruzek, 20th Annual Meeting Co-Chairs

ISTSS will hold its 20th anniversary meeting November 14-18 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

This important meeting will explore a theme of great international relevance: war as a universal trauma. The broad scope of the 20th annual meeting recognizes the diverse types of populations affected by war: active duty personnel, veterans, civilian adults and children exposed to war trauma, aid workers, refugees and internally displaced people. Trauma types experienced by these populations include combat, peacekeeping, terrorism and bioterrorism, as well as torture, sexual trauma and other types of violence that may occur during an armed conflict. Topics will range from basic science and epidemiology to treatment and prevention, as well as policy and other issues of social relevance.

Though many presentations will reflect the conference theme, others will continue to promote advancement and exchange of knowledge about the full gamut of types of traumatic stress.

A keynote speaker and two sets of parallel plenaries will feature an international spectrum of clinical, sociopolitical and scientific approaches to understanding the traumatic impact of war globally—on individuals, families, communities and countries.

This year’s poster sessions will be incorporated into the daily conference schedule with the symposiums, panel discussions, workshops and master clinician sessions. This program change will give senior investigators who submit posters a means for increased face-to-face contact with clinicians, students and other investigators. It also will allow for a broader range of presentations to be showcased at the meeting.

In addition to the ISTSS 20th Annual Meeting in New Orleans November 14-18, the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT) is holding its 28th annual meeting at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside November 18-21. ISTSS and AABT are collaborating to present two days of Post-Meeting Institutes, which will be held at the meeting hotel November 17-18, immediately following the ISTSS annual meeting and immediately preceding AABT’s annual meeting.

Also enriching this week of trauma training in New Orleans, the Conference on Innovations in Trauma Research Methods (CITRM) will convene November 17-18, and the International Society for the Study of Dissociation will hold its annual meeting November 18-20.

The energy and creativity of New Orleans complements the meeting program. Vibrant music, cuisines, commerce, arts and street entertainment surround the conference site in the heart of the French Quarter.

Make your plans now to attend the ISTSS 20th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Many fine presentations are in the works. You will learn from other colleagues while sharing your own skills and knowledge. For updates about this highly anticipated international event, visit the “Annual Meeting” section of the Web.