Dear ISSPD Members and Friends,

I decided to join the ISSPD during a boat trip to the ISSPD congress dinner past the rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen displaying Edvard Eriksen’s sculpture of a mermaid becoming human. Since attending that first congress in 2013 there have been many ISSPD highlights: spending time with Andrew Chanen, Perry Hoffman and our GAP (Global Alliance for the Prevention and Early Intervention of BPD) friends; a lovely dinner in Sabine Herpertz’s house overlooking the river Necktar in Heidelberg; working alongside respected colleagues on the ICD-11 task force; feeling the energy and commitment of those who have been involved in the ISSPD since its start (Erik Simonsen, Elsa Ronningstam and others) passing the torch to find new legitimacy for the ISSPD in the personality disorder landscape. When I took over the role of President of the ISSPD in January of 2020, little did I know what kind of year lay ahead. What started out as a year that might bring 20-20 vision or the fresh start of a new decade, turned out to be the year that COVID-19 disrupted most of our plans. By-and-large, ISSPD managed to weather the storm and we continue with our work towards our mission of providing a forum for collaboration and information sharing amongst academics and clinicians interested in the field of personality disorders.

With the rise of regional societies such as ESSPD and NASSPD, it became clear that for the ISSPD to retain legitimacy, it needed to fulfil functions non-achievable at the regional level. During the Presidencies of Andrew Chanen and Sabine Herpertz the painful process of transitioning the ISSPD to a society with a federation structure was therefore started. Steven Huprich solidified the transition to a federation structure during his presidency, laying the foundation for my term to be focused on initiatives that either require collaboration across multiple regions or reaching hard-to-reach regions of the world not served by a regional society. To this end, we have launched several initiatives this year that we hope to complete during my presidency and/or pass on to Giles Newton-Howes as he takes on the presidency in January 2022.

Of critical importance is re-igniting old partnerships in order to achieve our global potential. To this end, one of our major goals this year is to work more closely again with the personality disorder chapter of the World Psychiatric Association. Working closely with this group, we hope to update what used to be valuable on-line training materials that can be disseminated worldwide, but especially in low-resource settings. We also plan scientific products around global outreach and a consensus statement on the state of the science for personality pathology.

Our flagship event is of course our international congress that takes place every two years. Despite the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, the ISSPD is forging ahead and we plan to put on a congress that will not disappoint. It is most likely going to follow a hybrid format in order to accommodate the impact of the pandemic. We decided on Oslo as the next venue for the congress due to significant local interest in personality disorders and a vibrant local research and clinical community. Close proximity to countries with active and vibrant personality disorder communities such as the Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany furthermore ensures a stimulating congress program and participation. The theme of “Kaleidoscope Perspectives” was chosen to reflect the ISSPD’s celebration of diverging perspectives in our field, and to capture the sentiment that change is constant and that the most resilient personalities are those that can adapt.

It is an honor and privilege to serve as the current president of the ISSPD and I hope to see many of you 13-15 October in Oslo!

Carla Sharp, Ph.D.

President, ISSPD