Chandigarh, October 11, 2025: The Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32 (GMCH), here hosted the Golden Jubilee Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society – North Zone (IPS-NZ 2025).
The two-day Golden Jubilee celebration of the Indian Psychiatric society- North zone marks not just fifty years of academic excellence, but also five decades of service, compassion and commitment to improving mental health care in India.
The theme for this year’s conference is, “Severe Mental Illness: Beyond Psychopharmacology”, encouraged a broader, more holistic approach towards the illness, to help persons having mental illness regain confidence and independence promoting personal and social recovery.
The inaugural ceremony was graced by Prof. Savita Malhotra, President, Indian Psychiatric Society, as the Chief Guest, and Prof. G.P. Thami, Director-Principal, GMCH, Chandigarh, as the Guest of Honor. During the ceremony, several important releases also took place, including the souvenir, the IPS-NZ newsletter, and the book “Nai Roshini”, authored by Dr Gurvinder Pal Singh, immediate past president, IPS-NZ. Distinguished individuals were felicitated for their contribution to psychiatry, including past presidents of IPS NZ and alumni of the Department of Psychiatry, GMCH Chandigarh. Dr Shivangi Mehta, organizing secretary of the conference proposed vote of thanks.
The main highlight of the conference was Theme Symposium, led by Dr. Ajeet Sidana HOD, Dept of Psychiatry, GMCH, Chandigarh and also the organizing president for the conference along with Dr Gurvinder Pal Singh (AIIMS, Bathinda), Dr. Shubh Mohan Singh (PGIMER Chandigarh), and Dr. Amrit Pattojoshi (AIIMS Bhubaneshwar). The session focused on new and holistic ways to help people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Experts discussed regarding the DART Model, providing outpatient rehabilitation services in Chandigarh since more than a decade now. Dr Sidana gave a detailed overview of the services provided at Disability Assessment Rehabilitation and Triage (DART) services like Day care centre, vocational training, social skills training, neurocognitive rehabilitation, family intervention, peer support group etc.
The one and a half day scientific program featured multiple symposia, workshops, invited lectures, award sessions, and paper presentations by experts from across the country. The Presidential Address was delivered by Dr. Rajesh Sagar and Dr. N.N. Wig Oration was delivered by Dr. Roop Sidana,
Multiple award paper sessions such as the Dr. G.D. Koolwal Award, Dr. R.K. Solanki Award, and BPSSJ Award sessions were also held along with poster sessions and free paper presentations that gave students opportunity to showcase their research work.
Over 400 delegates from across India participated in the conference making it scientifically rich and a huge success.
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