December 18, 1998

As APA addresses Americans' concerns about quality of care, confidentiality, and so on, let us not forget our position of leadership in the world. Our own Office of International Affairs is an important part of our mission, and it has been responsible for the strong role of foreign membership that we enjoy today.

Knowledge of foreign practice, including everything from funding mechanisms to clinical formulation, will be increasingly important as the boundaries of our world shrink. The Lafayette Society and the French Federation of Psychiatry have encouraged exchange between France and the United States. APA could support their efforts in a more formal manner with benefit to all. To date, Dr. John Talbott and Dr. Simon-Daniel Kipman have organized two conferences in Paris (1996 and 1998) and are working on a third for the year 2000.

I challenge Psychiatric News to keep the membership posted on the efforts of Francophiles and keep APA's international light undimmed. France, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, and many other countries help to keep APA vital and creative, and these countries can offer ideas and approaches that could help us with our current crisis. Psychiatric News should do an international edition to highlight and celebrate our connections to these countries.

Lafayette, nous voici!

Patrick B. Mullen, M.D.
Greenville, S.C.