{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022290809327846366, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0017146776406035665, 'mean_word_length': 5.613378684807256, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Istanbul International Congress and the ongoing building of our field.

The 2006 WPA International Congress took place in Istanbul on 12-16 July. This encounter of psychiatrists of the world was, in the view of many, one of WPA's most successful. 
 
We all arrived at the old Constantinople, to six hundred years of Ottoman history, to the City where the Bosphorous engages Europe and Asia, to recommit ourselves to the WPA founders' aspiration of a unified professional identity across geographic and linguistic barriers. We experienced the vibrations of ancient civilizations, harmonizing mind, body and context and energizing the exploration of new insights and new realities. 
 
The design and construction of the Istanbul International Congress was facilitated by having from its outset, for the first time, a set of congress developmental principles. These follow: to observe an overall theme, Psychiatry: Uniqueness and Universality; to advance scientific excellence, with an emphasis on biopsycho- social integration; to present the richness of our diverse world, with focus in this Congress on European and intercontinental crossroads; to promote international collaboration at all levels, emphasizing WPA/World Health Organization (WHO) perspectives; to optimize continuing professional development, with a focus on young psychiatrist programs; to advance the current WPA Strategic Plan, highlighted by Institutional Consolidation and Global Impact: Towards a Psychiatry for the Person; and to promote the participation of WPA Member Societies and Scientific Sections. 
 
The polarities embedded in the overall theme, Psychiatry: Uniqueness and Universality, stimulated programmatically the articulation of the scientific with the humanistic, the objective with the subjective, the standardized with the personalized, explanation with understanding, and the clinical with public health. About fifty invited speakers, including some of the most prestigious scientists and clinicians in our field, from all continents, offered lectures covering innovations in fundamental areas such as the neurosciences, psychodynamics and social psychiatry, as well as key psychopathological problems and new care approaches, the challenges posed by disasters and violence, and, last but not least, the conceptualization of a person-centered psychiatry. Well over a hundred symposia on topics covering virtually every aspect of our field were organized by Scientific Sections, Zone Representatives, Member Societies, industry, and colleagues at large. Over fifty courses and workshops offered opportunities for interactive learning. Eleven film sessions exhibited various facets of creativity and mental health. Almost fifty warmly received clinical case conferences encompassed discussions by eminent clinicians of cases prepared by young psychiatrist Fellows according to WPA's International Guidelines for Diagnostic Assessment. The Program on Psychiatry for the Person held its first full-day workshop aimed at setting the bases for specific projects on conceptual, historical and ethical framework, clinical diagnosis (contributions to ICD-11 and the design of an integrative diagnostic model), clinical care (curricula and educational aids for multidisciplinary training of clinicians) and public health (epidemiological and public policy initiatives). 
 
The institutional development of WPA was also potently moved forward in Istanbul. Over one hundred hours of organizational meetings covered encounters of the Executive Committee, Board, Advisory Council, General Forum, Standing and Operational Committees, and many Scientific Sections. New institutional pages were open with the meetings of the WPA Regions (Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and Asia/Australasia), each run by the corresponding Zonal Representatives with the participation of Member Society leaders. And a strong Fellowship Program and Young Psychiatrist Council meeting documented WPA's commitment to the future of our field. Extending the impact and alliances of WPA, meetings and scientific activities took place with international organizations such as the WHO, the World Federation for Mental Health, the World Federation of Neurology, and the World Organization of Family Doctors. This wide range of activities documents the increasing importance of International Congresses in the life of WPA, particularly concerning participative governance and interactive functioning. 
 
A cultural program of unusual richness touched our most intimate fibers... from an arts exhibit highlighting the expressions of the human face in health and illness, to vibrant classic and popular concerts, to films challenging our understanding of the mind, to visits to historical monuments contrasting epochs and cultures. And multiple opportunities were extended for relaxed discussions, meeting old friends and making new ones, in the most pleasant of settings. 
 
All the above could easily explain the success of the Istanbul Congress and the satisfaction felt by its many participants coming from over a hundred countries. But this Congress was more than the sum of its parts. The extraordinary organizational skills and graceful touch of its main architect, Levent Kuey, with the collaboration of his strong team, our esteemed Turkish Member Societies and an outstanding professional congress organizer, pulled all elements together into a most stimulating and delightful event. Illustrating the pleiad of congratulations received immediately after the Istanbul Congress, a respected academic psychiatrist of intercontinental experience e-mailed this: "I am not in the habit of writing letters to organizers after each meeting... With a remarkably well delivered congress, you have set up a new standard for WPA". Melbourne and Prague are taking notice.