From The President

August 25, 2007

To the members of the IACEP

Dear friends and colleagues,

Most of you probably know that the IACEP officers changed at the end of the Knoxville Conference and I will now be the president for the next two years. For those of you who do not know me, I am a professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Osnabrück and have been working on severe mental disorders during the past 15 years, partly within a paradigm of coping research and mostly from a neurocognitive and rehabilitation perspective. The latter aspects build a bridge to a topic which is very familiar to IACEP members--I have worked a lot and still do on Dynamic Assessment, starting with collaborative work on testing-the-limits with Jerry Carlson in the 1970’s and, after a short break, going on with research on Dynamic Testing with neurocognitive measures. This work resulted in research on cognitive rehabilitation potential in schizophrenia. I am currently working on the identification of different responder types to treatment and the development and design of modified or alternative treatments for these groups. I am also studying the topic of insight. For example, it is well known that many persons suffering from schizophrenia totally or partially lack insight into their illness. There are data indicating that neurocognition, cognitive modifiability and aspects of coping can contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon. We are currently planning a project on this important topic. Besides my scientific work, I am co-director of a Rehabilitation Clinic for people with severe mental disorders.

Now I would like to explain my relationship with the IACEP. I have been involved with the organization from its beginning and in fact would have attended the first meeting that started the conferences years ago in Lake Louise, Canada, if not for a bicycle accident. I agree with the thoughts Carl Haywood put in his recent letter on the Knoxville Conference. He noted that the IACEP provides a warm and at the same time stimulating atmosphere where old friends meet, new friendships are made, and where progress in scientific work that is related to what happens in "real life" can be experienced. What makes these things particularly interesting is the international framework and the scientific-practitioner orientation of the association. In my opinion, this does not always make it easy to find a common language and understanding, but it always provides a worthy challenge.

At this point in its development I think IACEP is in a period of transition. The task before those of us who have been in the organization from the beginning as well as those who are new to IACEP is to facilitate growth. This should include the preservation of the knowledge, expertise, and participation of the “founding fathers and mothers” of the Association. The role these highly respected persons have played in the past and will continue to play in the future of the organization is essential. At the same time it is important to hand over conceptual and operative tasks to newer members, who in the future have to guarantee the existence of the IACEP. In order to get all this done, the Association needs stability and transition. First of all this means keeping old members, gaining new ones, having good communication between members and executive committee and establishing formal procedural rules and regulations (e.g., bylaws). At the recent conference, the executive committee began to work on these issues. We well keep you informed about the progress of this ongoing work.

I would like to tell you one more point about myself. I live and work in Osnabrück which is a little university town in the north of Germany. Osnabrück is an amiable city, which a few years ago was number one in the national survey on where people are happy to live. Osnabrück also has a history that brings together such fundamental things like war and peace. Nearly 2000 years ago, the expansion of the Roman Empire to the north of Europe was stopped in the swamp and forest areas around Osnabrück. This ended the 30-year war with the famous contract of The Peace of Westphalia (1648, Osnabrück and Münster), making Osnabrück a city with a cultural balance between the different religious, ethnic, political and social groups. As you can read from this description, it is a city which is well worth a visit and you are always welcome to drop by.

In closing, I want to tell you that I am proud of having the opportunity of serving the IACEP for the next two years. In case I should make mistakes in the beginning (which is probable) or later (which is possible), please pardon me. I trust that my predecessor (Jerry Carlson) and the other experienced members of the IACEP will help me to prevent them. I wish you all the best and look forward to two productive years with IACEP.

Sincerely,

Karl (“Charly”) Wiedl