The Mississippi Psychiatric Association, is a statewide medical specialty organization whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders. MPA was founded in 1967 as a district branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Incorporated under the State of Mississippi as a not-for-profit, scientific, organization, MPA is a medical specialty association with psychiatric physician members located throughout Mississippi. The Association works in cooperation with the APA to foster the science and enhance the progress of psychiatry, to serve as an influence toward the maintenance of high professional and admnistrative standards thereto related, and to assist the APA in promoting its aims and objectives, which are:
•to promote the common professional interests of its members;
•to improve the treatment, rehabilitation and care of persons with mental disorders (including mental retardation and substance-related disorders); •to advance the standards of all psychiatric services and facilities; •to promote research, professional education in psychiatry and allied fields, and the prevention of psychiatric disabilities; •to foster the cooperation of all who are concerned with the medical, psychological, social, and legal aspects of mental health and illness; •to make psychiatric knowledge available to practitioners of medicine, to scientists, and to the public; •to promote the best interests of patients and those actually or potentially making use of mental health services; and •to advocate for its members.
