Upon the invitation of IDRAAC, Professor Hagop Akiskal, the director of the International Mood Center, San Diego, USA and the Chief Editor of the Journal of Affective Disorders participated in the Burning Issues in Psychiatry Congress which was held in Beirut on October 27- 28, 2011 at Phoenicia Hotel Beirut, Lebanon.

The President of the Republic of Lebanon, General Michel Sleiman awarded Professor Akiskal, who is of Lebanese origin and one of the leading psychiatrists worldwide, the Medal of Health Merit of the first (golden) degree. Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil awarded Akiskal the medal during the opening ceremony of the congress.

During this congress, world experts, including Lebanese figures of international fame, addressed the issue of bipolar disorders and temperament including Professor Hagop Akiskal, Dr Elie Hantouche, Director of CTAH (Anxiety and Mood Center- France) and a top expert in bipolar disorders and OCD and Dr Elie Karam, founder of IDRAAC and chairman of the department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at St Georges Hospital University Medical Center / Balamand University.

Other prominent figures are Prof. William Corryell, director of Inpatient Services in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; Dr. Eric Youngstrom, professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and acting director of the Center for Excellence in Research and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder; Dr Giulio Perugi, professor of clinical psychology and psychopharmacology at the University of Pisa (Italy) and director of the Institute of Behavioural Sciences “G De Lisio”; Prof. Andreas Erfurth,  head of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Bipolar Spectrum Disorders Program, Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna (Austria); and Prof Zoltan Rihmer.