International Congress of the INA 2015

INA congresses have been held around the world in diverse cities such as Sydney Australia, Kyoto Japan, Cancun Mexico, Athens Greece, Toronto Canada, Chennai India, Buenos Aires Argentina and Chicago USA, always being a high-point in new developments in clinical and research knowledge. Neuropsychiatry just a few decades ago was considered an esoteric borderland between neurology and psychiatry. Outstanding developments in Alzheimer's research and the increasing recognition of the behavioral disorders of dementia began to change that. Then came findings that electroencephalography (EEG) and more recently magnetoencephalography (MEG) allowed mathematical analysis that promise to allow non-invasive objective diagnosis of brain state. Advanced imaging techniques such as MRI and PET have achieved such high-resolution that when combined with functional stimuli they are on the verge of clinical application in many psychiatric illnesses. Most exciting, the discovery that surgically implanted electrodes carrying deep stimulation of specific brain nuclei can alleviate intractable cases of Parkinson's disease and most recently depression and obsessive compulsive disorder have given hope for our most severe and pharmacologically resistant patients. Neuropsychiatry is an old-new field, combining the solid clinical insights of Lishman's organic psychiatry with the high-tech developments of transcranial brain stimulation.