The Annual Conference Committee has been hard at work making preparations for the 2025 ISSTD Annual Conference in Boston, MA, USA. The 42nd Annual Conference, with the theme, From Invisible to Visible: Research, Clinical, and Cultural Evolutions in the Field of Complex Trauma and Dissociation, will be held March 15-17, 2025 at The Hilton Park Plaza with pre-conferences held on March 13-14.
We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Judith Herman, Dr. Thema Bryant, and Dr. David Spiegel as plenary speakers. Dr. Herman is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the field of psychological trauma, is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and is a co-founder of the Victims of Violence Program at The Cambridge Hospital, MA. In 2023, Dr. Herman published Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice. She is the author of two other award-winning books: Father-Daughter Incest and Trauma and Recovery.
Dr. Thema Bryant, PhD will offer the plenary Empowering Underserved Trauma Survivors to Heal Their Relationship with Themselves and Others. Dr. Bryant is the 2023 president of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is currently a Professor of Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her clinical and research interests center on interpersonal trauma and the societal trauma of oppression.
Dr. David Spiegel, MD, will present Dissociating Damage and Transcending Trauma. Dr. David Spiegel is Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the Center on Stress and Health and the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He chaired the work group on Dissociative Disorders for the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV and DSM-5 editions.
The conference committee has almost completed a rich and exciting slate of pre-conference presentations, which will be announced soon. The Call for Proposals for the conference is open July 1 – August 15, 2024. We invite creative, innovative, and exciting presentations that represent all aspects of understanding, researching, and treating complex trauma and dissociation in addition to the conference theme, to co-create the conference. We encourage solid scientific and clinically grounded presentations.
We anticipate having a number of short term, small project volunteer opportunities in the months leading up to the conference. If you are interested in helping with these, please find the posting at the Volunteer Center!