We are a….
Psychiatric Think Tank…
GAP committees address timely questions facing American psychiatry. Because psychiatry is a multifaceted medical specialty encompassing the biopsychosocial paradigm, committees consider issues ranging from psychopharmacology to the ethical and moral issues inherent in the practice of a field fraught with technical and human pitfalls.
Think Tanks such as GAP publish their findings after a group of experts in a given field combine their own clinical and research knowledge with a complete review of the literature and consultation with non-psychiatric consultants whose expertise is added both as a participant and a critic.
New committees are created to address new important cutting edge issues. Commitees on Disasters and Terrorism, Gender Issues and Mental Health and Sexual Minorities have been added in the last year and committees on Genetics and Neuropsychiatric Imaging are in the planning stages. The goal is to refresh psychiatric thought and create products that serve both the field of psychiatry and the nation.
Modern technologies are utilized to preserve historic documents, explore organizational effectiveness, cultivate communication among members, and make GAP products more widely available.
The funding for the Fellows is from donations and grants received from the Phillips Van-Buren Family Foundation, I. Wistar Morris, and the Cotswold Foundation.
…comprised of a group of leaders in the industry…
GAP is composed of over 200 thought leaders who come together twice a year to debate and think through pertinent issues in psychiatry. Among the national leaders in American psychiatry are numerous presidents of GAP who have also led other national psychiatric organizations.
In over 50 years, GAP has shared Presidents with such national organizations as: The American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the membership are men and women who have been honored for their extraordinary contributions to the field. GAP has researchers recognized nationally and internationally in the areas of addiction, geriatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, terrorism and academics.
that has a rich history.
The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry grew out of the successes in providing modern psychiatric care to our soldiers in the field during World War II. Psychiatric leaders in the armed forces returned to find an inadequate system of civilian care and a need for professional leadership for the postwar clinical needs of the nation.
Under the leadership of Dr. William Menninger, GAP was formed, by the "young turks" in American psychiatry who were dissatisfied with the status of civilian psychiatry in 1947 and who were eager to advance psychiatry so it could truly take its proper place among the medical specialties.
Dr. William Menninger wrote:
"The organization of GAP was not a revolution. With the deepest sincerity, the founding group was seeking a way in which American psychiatry could give more forceful leadership, both medically and socially. Although the name may sound presumptuous, it was chosen because of the sense of great urgency that psychiatry should advance, and the belief that by hard work, and teamwork, we could help it do so. Those early years of GAP were marked by the feeling on the part of its membership that much needed to be done, and quickly."
Since its beginning the same sense of inquiry and urgency has continued GAP thriving. Although the topics have changed, GAP has played a critical role in changing the role of psychiatry in each decade. The strength of GAP has always been the spirit of the group and the commitment of the members to the collective effort. The members donate their time and effort in order to foster change and to work for a better mental health system, better treatment modalities and a better understanding of the human brain and mind.