It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the 17th Biennial Winter Workshop on Psychosis (WWP), which will take place from 15th-17th February 2013 in Marrakech, Morocco.

The Co-Chairs and organising secretariat have taken the decision to host WWIP in Marrakech In 2013. This will be the first time the WWIP has been held in Africa - allowing delegates to enjoy some warmth during the cold European winter months. I believe the location will prove to be a perfect setting for good debate and discussion about latest developments in the treatment of patients suffering psychiatric illness.
 
For over 30 years the WWIP has taken place biennially, developing and adapting to changes in medicine and psychiatry.

The WWP is a clinical and research conference unlike any other. The WWP will go beyond focusing on the traditional themes of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders alone, and as the conference title suggests it will centre on the question of overlap between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as on the concept of psychoses.

In recent times definitions and diagnoses of many conditions in Psychiatry have come under question and terms that were commonplace have become super-ceded.  Advances in knowledge and understanding of genetics, plus imaging techniques allowing us to see the pathological processes underpinning psychiatric conditions have played a major role.

Psychosis - perhaps more accurately - psychotic symptomatology, as a symptom cluster, is at the core of the controversy over the definition of Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorders.  Can we call these conditions ‘Dopamine Dysregulation Disorder’ or is this too specific (involving only one neurotransmitter)?  The psychoses are also closely involved in the expansion of the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder into the much broader Bipolar Spectrum – but how much are they involved in Bipolar II disorder for example or is that purely an affective disorder?  Psychotic symptoms are involved in many other conditions such as severe depression, chronic and acute/sub-acute neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsies, choreas and many neurological states induced by environmental factors (infections, stress, migration, drugs…), much can be learnt from the underlying organic pathology and the symptoms experienced which relates to more mainstream Psychiatric disorders.

In this exciting and ever-progressing environment of better understanding the WWP will review the current situation regarding the aetiology and underlying pathogenesis of psychoses.   The consequences for diagnoses and definitions will also be reviewed along with a full update on current therapeutic options.

The WWP is a cutting-edge research conference with plenary presentations, debates and workshops provided by acknowledged worldwide experts along with a series of presentations of recent study results.  The programming committee is tasked with providing the best selection of presentations from those proposed over the coming year.  The last WWP included 100 speakers, 43 countries and over 300 poster presentations.

We look forward to a culturally diverse, exciting and dynamic interchange of concepts and a sharing of understanding in Marrakech.

The conference is structured into themes:

Day 1 – Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Definitions
Day 2 – Aetiology and Pathophysiological processes
Day 3 – Pharmaceutical and Psycho-social Treatment Options

The skeleton of the programme will be made up of 6-8 invited top level guest speakers delivering plenary lectures, the rest of the programme is open for proposals and will include:

• Oral plenary topics selected by the programming committee from submitted abstracts
• Debates and Q&A sessions
• Plenary lectures from eminent scientists
• Lunchtime discussions & rapid fire ground break research sessions
• Poster Treks led by keynote speakers
• Sponsored satellite symposia
• Sponsored plenary sessions

The conference programme is currently under construction and the Conference co-Chairs welcome the submission of abstracts across the following spectrum of topics: Aetiology; New diagnostic entities; Environmental risk factors; Neurobiology; Genetic; Immunology; Cognition; Economic cost and epidemiology; Prevention; Psycho-social strategy; Genetics; Mechanisms of action; Etio-pathogeny, Pathophysiology; Neuropsychology; Pharmacological; Psychological treatment; Nosology; Phenomenology; Functional and structural imaging; Historical aspects; Diagnosis; Neuropathology; Prevention; Symptoms and treatment of psychoses; and will consider creativity and schizotypy, temporal lobe psychoses, working memory and social aspects.

Submissions should be made by end of July 2012.

Please state which subject theme your proposal matches.

The WWP is organised on behalf of the Winter Workshop Fund, a not-for-profit organisation, that provides travel and accommodation bursaries for delegates and supports medical research charities, WWP 2013 will continue to build on this tradition and provide an invigorating and relaxed atmosphere where young researchers can network with acknowledged experts and exchange ideas.

On behalf of the Co-Chairs, Prof Marion Leboyer, Prof Dan Rujescu & Prof Driss Moussaoui, we look forward to welcoming you to Marrakech in 2013.

We are delighted to announce that abstracts from IRBD 2010, 2011 and Winter Workshop in Psychoses 2009, 2011 have now been published in International Clinical Psychopharmacology and are available for review. Click to view