Minutes of the General Assembly meeting of The International College of Psychosomatic Medicine, Kobe, Japan, August 25^th, 2005

Present: Christodoulou (President), Sensky (President-elect), Streltzer (Secretary), Finset (2^nd President-elect), Sivik (past President), Leigh, Lipsitt, Deter, Vasconcellos, Nakagawa, van Zyl, Gagnon, Koh, Kubo, Dan Dumistrascu, Diana Dumistrascu, Singh, Orth-Gomer

The president of ICPM, George Christodoulou, opened the meeting with his presidential report. He reported on the preparation of a new constitution, on the lengthy negotiations about the site of the next World Congress that fortunately had a happy outcome, on the condition of the website, the improved financial situation, the increase in unpaid membership, the transfer of financial accounts to Hawaii. He indicated that there were various scientific activities of the ICPM in addition to the world congresses. These included a Presidential APA Symposium held in conjunction with ICPM the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in May 2005 and a session during the WPA Intersectional Congress held in Athens in March 2005.

Dr. Sensky presented a draft of a new constitution for the College. There was discussion of the makeup of the advisory board. It was noted that this would be expanded with the addition of the chairs of the 18^th and 19^th Congress’s, and the addition of Dr. Sivik who would be graduating from the executive board as a past president. The importance of the executive and advisory boards being representative and inclusive of all important groups such as women, non-psychiatrists, countries with prominent and active Psychosomatic societies, and geographic areas that are underdeveloped with regard to psychosomatic medicine activities and. Dr. Gagnon and Dr. van Zyl noted that it would be very helpful for the fledgling Canada psychosomatic group to be affiliated with ICPM, and helping new national psychosomatic groups was generally thought to be an important activity of ICPM. After much discussion, and some changes in wording of the draft, the Constitution was accepted. It was stressed that this is a document to be continually updated and improved.

The secretary and treasurer’s report were given by Jon Streltzer. Overall the financial and membership situation of the ICPM had improved substantially in the past two years. The Sweden account had approximately 33,000 U.S. dollars in it. Karger was also holding approximately $8,500 of ICPM money before processing the most recent 15 to 30 members. Another $3,000 should be added to that account. It was reported that ICPM could form a nonprofit corporation in Hawaii at little expense and with minimal annual reporting requirements. Because of this, it would be convenient to transfer the Sweden accounts to Hawaii.

Gary Belcher has been hired as a new administrative assistant for the past two years, at a salary of $4,000 per year. He has managed the website so that it looks very good and is ready for a large expansion of material. He has resolved the problems that we have had with Elsevier and Karger with regard to keeping track of our members and making sure that they received the journals that they were entitled to. With the transfer of the accounting to Hawaii, he will be receiving an additional $500 per year.

Dr. Sensky acknowledged the excellent work of Gary Belcher and his vital role in the administration of ICPM. The General Assembly unanimously agreed to commend Gary Belcher for his fine work.

Dr. Kubo gave the report of the 18^th congress. His latest figures indicated there were 1070 registrants not counting additional on-site registrants. 30 countries were represented. He did not have the financial figures finalized but it was expected that Congress would be able to contribute 20% of the income to the ICPM. The membership congratulated Dr. Kubo for the outstanding organization of this most successful congress.

A report of the planning for the 19^th World Congress of psychosomatic medicine was given by doctors van Zyl and Gagnon. The 19^th Congress will be held in Quebec City, Canada, August 26^th to 31, 2007. They discussed overcoming some initial difficulties and now were well on track with their plans. Communication between the two of them was proceeding in excellent and high-tech fashion. The Congress had significant support from Lavalle University. They anticipated that they would require $550,000 Canadian dollars to run the Congress. The break-even figure should be 500 registrants. They were hoping to draw at least 750 registrants. The convention center in Quebec City can manage up to 7000 participants and there are many hotel rooms of various types within walking distance. They noted that transportation to Montreal is quite convenient but the airport at Quebec City is fairly small. Northwest Airlines has direct flights from Detroit and other airlines may have direct flights from convenient cities as well.

There has been an expression of interest from several sites for the 2009 congress. Dr. Christodoulou has submitted a full proposal for having the Congress in Greece. A brief written proposal has been submitted by Giovanni Fava to have the Congress in Torino, Italy. There has been a suggestion that Germany could be the host of the Congress in 2009 or 2011 by Dr. Albert Diefenbacher. Brazil had previously expressed interest but this has not been followed up in the past two years.

The Internet Committee chaired by Dr. Hoyle Leigh has met and their report will be submitted on the website.

Elections were held. The Executive Board proposed Dr. Fava for second president-elect, Dr. Streltzer for a second term as secretary, and Dr. Kubo as treasurer. Dr. Streltzer was nominated from the floor as second president-elect, but he declined in support of Dr. Fava. The three candidates were elected.

At this point, the presidency of ICPM was transferred to Dr. Sensky. On behalf of ICPM, Dr. Sensky presented Dr. Christodoulou with a gift in appreciation for his service as president and Dr Sivik with a gift in appreciation of her service as member of the EC. He then discussed that Dr. Finset needed to defer his position as president-elect due to some special commitments during the time of his projected presidency. Dr. Sensky suggested that he and Dr. Fava switch places with Dr. Finset remaining second president-elect. Dr. Finset offered to resign as an alternative, but the Assembly approved the switch.

Dr. Sensky suggested the inclusion of Dr Hans-Christian Deter to the Advisory Board in acknowledgement of the important role of Germany in psychosomatic medicine and Dr. Deter’s experience as an organizer of a major psychosomatic conference.

Finally, there was discussion from the floor about the process of the nomination of officers. It was decided that there should be a formal nominating committee to be appointed by the Executive Board. The meeting was then adjourned

Respectfully submitted,

Jon Streltzer, Secretary